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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

What's interesting is that Gallup International indicates that 41% of American citizens report they regularly attend religious services. [url]http://www.religioustolerance.org/rel_rate.htm[/url]

But in fact, the actual rate of church attendance from head counts is less than half of that:
[url]http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html[/url]

So around 80% of Americans don't regularly attend church. That's about the same rate as in the "godless" European countries. In other words, we're about as atheistic as most of the atheistic countries of Western Europe, we have a much higher rate of lying about whether we attend church. It's hard to speculate on why that is, but I'd imagine it has a lot to do with intolerance of religious believers towards their non-believing neighbors. Much like the number of people who self-identified as gay has risen with the decline in overt social and institutionalized homophobia, my guess is that as "believers" continue to lose political power, people will feel more free to come "out of the closet". While many Americans feel a cultural affinity for the church they were raised in, that's increasingly a social, rather than theistic tie. It's very similar to the distinction between "cultural" Jews and "religious" Jews. Almost every Jewish atheist still celebrates Passover.

But, no, the fact that 90% of Americans are pressured to say they're "religious" isn't indicative of religious beliefs in America. [/quote]

Thousands of Americans feel "pressured" to tell some anonymous poll taker they're religious when they're not? And what does "regular" even mean, and how does regular attendance correlate with belief (which is different, if you hadn't noticed) in these polls?

Give me a break. This sounds like some atheist's wet dream.[/quote]

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