Pray tell: Americans stretching the truth about church attendance

[cleanhippie]

http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8155

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—A new University of Michigan study finds that Americans are much more likely to exaggerate their attendance at religious services than are people in many other countries.

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While conventional survey data show high and stable American church attendance rates of about 35 to 45 percent, the time diary data over the past decade reveal attendance rates of just 24 to 25 percent—a figure in line with a number of European countries.

America maintains a gap of 10 to 18 percentage points between what people say they do on survey questions, and what time diary data says they actually do, Brenner reports. The gaps in Canada resemble those in America, and in both countries, gaps are both statistically and substantively significant.

--snip--

"American religion may however, be considered exceptional in a new way in light of these findings: unlike the other countries examined, American behavior continues its consistent failure to match self-reported rates. American religiosity as an outlier is a concept that may be better applied to identity and self-concept rather than behavior," he said.

http://ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=8155

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Interesting. Certainly explains a lot of the hypocrisy we see from christians in this country.

[AlecBGreen]

1. If true thats sad and pathetic

What do you think CH? Do people do this intentionally to inflate their ego and impress others (ETA: which is what I assumed in my reply title) or do you think it is more innocent than that? If you asked me how often I go to church I would say every other week or so. I wonder how that would stack up against my actual attendance. I dont keep track.

[jeepnstein]

6. I'm not surprised.

Even among members who really do consider themselves as faithful, they tend to miss more services than they think they do. I find it more common among the folks who do only show up once or twice a month if they're not too busy doing something else. It just reflects the difference between actual commitment and their perception of their commitment. No different than any other activity. It's hardly a reason to condemn religion unless you're looking for another excuse.

[onager]

2. Here's a similar, earlier study.

The problem: researchers learn very quickly that - for whatever reasons - Xians just naturally lie their asses off about church attendance.

The ONLY accurate way to measure attendance is by going into the Spookeries and counting noses:

Hadaway, Marler, and Mark Chaves counted the number of people attending four Protestant churches in Ashtabula County, OH, and in 18 Roman Catholic dioceses throughout the U.S.

In their 1993 report they stated that actual attendance was only about half of the level reported in public opinion surveys: 20% vs. 40% for Protestants, and 28% vs. 50% for Roman Catholics.

They later returned to Ashtabula County to measure attendance by Roman Catholics. They physically counted the number of attendees at each mass over several months. They concluded that 24% of Catholics in the county actually attended mass. They then polled residents of the county by telephone. 51% of Roman Catholic respondents said that they had attended church during the previous week. Apparently, most were lying.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/rel_rate.htm

[rug]

3. As they do on sex surveys.

[cleanhippie]

4. Christians lie on sex surveys too?

Interesting. Link for that?

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cleanhippie]

7. You stay classy now, ok?