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If you believe the small smattering of polls cited in this Wikipedia article people have actually become less religious over the last 10 years: http://en.wikip
by mattmaroon 18y ago
If you believe the small smattering of polls cited in this Wikipedia article people have actually become less religious over the last 10 years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#Belief_in_God http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States#B...
They moved from 94% believing in God to 73%. Might just be the small sample or differences in questions asked though.
- ljlolel 18y agoIt seems much more likely to be availability bias on pg's part.
- neilk 18y agoIt's a complex question. Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting With Jesus, can be a good explainer of evangelical religion in America to the rest of us. He asserts that there have always been people who are this deeply religious in about this proportion, but the difference is that now they are a political constituency and a valuable demographic for advertisers. Perhaps it's very simply that culture isn't controlled by the city anymore, nor by the three big TV networks who all had similarly liberal urbanites in control. If I were to guess I'd say that what's on the decline is nominal religiosity. Those who don't believe, don't worship, in greater numbers. At the same time, among those who do believe, there's been an assertion of cultural power since the 1980s or so. No data here, just an observation from someone about the same as as pg.
- mattmaroon 18y agoMy thoughts exactly pretty much. I also think the atheist movement has become much better organized and more assertive, largely due to the net. The two probably whip each other up into a frenzy as well.