"Americans misreport how often they vote, how much they give to charity, and how frequently they use illegal drugs. People are not entirely accurate in their self-reports about other areas as well. Males exaggerate their number of sexual partners, university workers are not very honest about reporting how many photocopies they make. Actual attendance at museums, symphonies and operas does not match survey results. We should not expect religious behavior to be immune to such misreporting." Kirk Hadaway, a sociologists at the United Church of Christ, (1993) 1,2
"... despite the rhetoric, active religious participation remains a minority interest in American life." Tom Flynn, writer for Free Inquiry magazine, (1998). 2
Reported attendance at religious services by Americans and Canadians:
Item USA Canada
Attend at least weekly 43% 20%
Never/almost never attend 8% 38%
This data is taken from the Millennium Study by Taylor Nelson Sofres Intersearch in 1999. 3
For years, pollsters have been asking adult Americans whether they go to religious services regularly. Typically, the specific question asks whether they attended a service during the previous weekend. The results have been relatively constant over time. Some recent estimates are:
38% by the National Opinion Research Center
44% by the Institute for Social Research's World Values survey. This institute is located at the University of Michigan. 4
The Barna Research Group reported that in 2005, "47% of American adults [said that they] attend church in a given weekend, not including a special event such as a wedding or a funeral." 5 In earlier years, attendance varied from 37% to 49%:
1991: 49%
1992: 47%
1996: 37%
1997: 43%
2000: 40%
2001: 42%
2002: 43%
2004: 43%
The Gallup Poll conducts yearly polls asking the question: "Did you, yourself, happen to attend church or synagogue in the last seven days, or not?" They reported the following attendance levels. 6 The margin of error is ±2%:
1992: 40%
1993: 40%
1994: 42%
1995: 43%
1996: 38%
1997: 40%
1998: 40%
1999: 43%
2000: 44%
2001: 41%
2002: 44%
2003: 41%
40% by National Election Studies. Their poll shows that in 1996, 25% of adult Americans claimed to attend church, synagogue or temple every week; 12% almost every week; 16% once or twice a month, 18% a few times a year, and 30% never. 7 Assuming that "almost every week" means 3 weeks out of 4, then these data indicate 40% attendance.
The Gallup Organization measured attendance at 41% during 2001-MAY. 8
