[lbo-talk] how many Americans go to church, and why?

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Fri Apr 6 11:16:36 PDT 2007


On Apr 6, 2007, at 1:54 PM, Chuck wrote:


> It looks like those of us who are anti-religion activists have our
> work
> cut out for us. I'm just happy to see the appearance of the "New
> Atheism" movement. I'd really like to see more people agitating for a
> more non-religious American society.

Me too, but it looks like we're in a minority, even on this list.


> That being said, I think this survey is allowing too many people to
> lie
> about their church attendance and their religious beliefs.

It's interesting that the BLS's time use survey, which relies on people keeping diaries about what they do, shows a much lower rate of church attendance. But aspirations and social pressures to conform do affect people's political opinions, so the urge to over-report isn't without consequences. Still...


> Still, this number is encouraging. It means that almost a majority of
> Americans do not attend church frequently.

Yup. And I'll bet their number is declining (Gallup doesn't have a long enough history to say).


>> As a prominent example, it appears reasonable to hypothesize that
>> older Americans are more likely to be religious and attend church
>> because they are more immediately facing the prospect of death.
>
> No. The more obvious explanation is that older Americans go to church
> for cultural and generational reasons. They go to church because
> they've
> gone to church for most of their life and they still subscribe to the
> paradigm that church attendance is mandatory if you have religious
> beliefs. Younger people aren't attending church because they were
> raised
> in a more secular society.

Yup. Younger people are less racist, less sexist, and less homophobic too. The trends are not in the religious right's favor.

Doug



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