Americans significantly overstate their rate of church attendance, concludes a paper published this month by a University of Chicago business school professor National Bureau of Economic Research. Dr. Devin Pope reviewed cellphone geodata from over two million Americans to examine their behavior with respect to religion. Pope concluded that only 5 percent of those surveyed attend services each week, and only 21 per cent attend each month – based on their location on Sunday mornings as determined by their cell phone location.
The Chicago study entitled “Religious Worship Attendance in America: Evidence from Cellphone Data” contradicts surveys released by Gallup polling, where 21 per cent of Americans report they attend religious services each week, and 41 per cent attend at least once a month.
The Chicago study found that 73 per cent of the sample attended religious services at least once a year, while Gallup found 46 per cent of Americans reported attending worship during the year. This anomaly may be explained by irregular worshippers attending weddings, funerals and Christmas/Easter services. Another finding was that bad cold or rainy weather drives down attendance according to geodata.
Those whose cell phone tracked them down at church were also found to visit strip clubs, liquor stores and casinos less frequently than those who did not attend worship services.
