Religion and the left

[Katha Pollitt]

The perception that America is so very religious may not be quite
accurate. The statistic, for ex, that half of all americans go to church
every week comes from a gallup poll -- this would mean there has been no
decline in church going since the fifties. But another organization
(forget which one) came up with a very different figure by using a
different method.  Instead of directly asking people if they went to
church the previous Sabbath, thus eliciting the socially-approved
answer, they simply asked people to keep diaries of how they spent their
week. By the method, only 26% reported going to church.  This represents
a big decline in religious observance since the fifties -- which is kind
of what you'd expect, isn't it, given all the water that's gone under
the bridge since then.

best, katha