Americans attend church less than they say they do

Written by Tom Beasley in News at December 6, 2010

Many surveys might be more inaccurate than they seem at first glance:

Survey data over the past few decades consistently point to church attendance rates among Americans of 35-45%, whereas time diaries suggest that the figure is closer to 25%

The study from the University of Michigan mentions many other possible explanations for this discrepancy, all of which could be valid, such as simply not remembering how often one went to church. I’d like to think that these results mean that the United States is less religious than surveys make it appear, but the wealth of alternative explanations for the data leaves me pessimistic.

Reposted from: Church Attendance: What We Say Is Not Always What We Do

See original: Pray tell: Americans stretching the truth about church attendance

Related posts:

  1. ‘Americans United’ against National Day of Prayer
  2. Demographics are changing, while numbers are steady, in U.S. church attendance
  3. 61 percent of Americans think Bin Laden is in hell

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