Coming up on the newsletter in September. 9/3: I really think there are two dimensions to religious belief: doctrinal and existential. This one includes an interactive quiz to see where you fall on both. 9/7: What kind of college student thinks it's okay to shout down a speaker on campus? 9/10: When people are struggling, who wants to speak to a religious leader and who would prefer a counselor? 9/14: A created a religious behavior index that includes 8 different activities. And there's another quiz so you can where you fall compared to the average American. 9/17: Do religious young adults have better relationships with their parents than non-religious adults? 9/21: Why do less educated people show up to church less? Is it because they have a work schedule that makes this more difficult? (This is a question I get asked all the time) 9/24: There are two dimensions of religious behavior. One requires you to be in the room w/other believers. The other doesn't. Guess which one I think is better? 9/28: While they differ dramatically at the ballot box, the religiosity of Black Protestants and evangelicals is eerily similar.

I created two indexes of religious activity. Private is stuff like prayer outside of services, reading holy texts, and watching services online. Public are things that inherently social -- attending in-person worship, prayer groups, etc. Public religiosity doesn't change much when I break it down by age. Private religiosity does, though. Gen Z Christians are engaging in fewer activities than their parents or grand parents.

Among Americans born in the 1930s, just 1% grew up with TWO college-educated parents. For those born in the 1990s? 19%. For people born in the 1960s, their father was 9 points more likely to have a degree compared to their mother. The gap has shrunk to 3 points in younger American families.

According to three different widely used surveys, the share of Americans who identify as Catholic has declined noticeably in the last 15-20 years. GSS 2008: 25% 2024: 22% CES: 2008: 21% 2024: 18% Pew RLS: 2007: 24% 2024: 19%

The most popular religious affiliation for the youngest adults? "Nothing in particular" A quarter of those born in the early 2000s describe their religion this way.

What combination of basic demographic traits produces the highest level of religious attendance? Black people with graduate degrees. 45% report weekly or more attendance. That's at least 50% higher than any other racial group at any level of education.

People were asked to rate a bunch of religious groups on a scale from 0 to 100. Democrats rate atheists 18 points higher than Republicans. Republicans rate evangelicals 20 points higher than Democrats. The smallest partisan spread? Latter-day Saints. Just 3 points.

Your semi-regular reminder: If you look at survey data of folks born in 1950 or later there's no empirical evidence that the less educated are the most likely to attend religious services. In fact, those with grad degrees are about 3 points more likely to show up weekly.

We sent both our sons to the city schools in our rural town of 15,000. It has 1200 students. 50% are nonwhite. 85% are on free or reduced lunch. I'm on the school board. Both kids play multiple sports. Are members of all kinds of clubs. My oldest graduated as valedictorian in May. When there was a lapse in food benefits one of my sons came to us and said that his closest friend probably didn't have any food in the house and asked if we could help out, which we did. I'll always be grateful for our public school.

“The religious right had its moment, and the coalition can’t last forever,” @ryanburge tells @jialynnyang. “The ground’s a little wet. It can be molded into something different.” nytimes.com/2026/09/21/magaz…

Over 90% of Americans agree that "people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical bodies" There three religious groups that are at the bottom on this question: Jews - 75% Agnostics - 69% Atheists - 33%

When Latter-day Saints hit their 25th birthday, 33% have already been married. Just 6% of atheists have walked down the aisle at 25 years old. In fact, an LDS at 25 is just as likely to have been married as an agnostic at 45 years old.

Both parties face major problems when it comes to religion in the future. The problem for the Republicans is that the vast majority of their base is white Christianity. The white share of the population is in decline. The Christian share of the population is in decline. The Democrats' problem is that their coalition is a mish-mash of people with vastly different worldviews. Atheists, Black Protestants, Muslims, Hispanic Catholics.

"Zeal of the convert" -- the idea that people who convert to a new faith tradition are more devout compared to those who have always been in the same faith. When it comes to attendance, there's only one tradition where there is true: Catholics. 28% of Cradle Catholics attend weekly. It's 38% of those who converted to the faith.

Guess who is the most likely to call their parents? Catholics and those of other religion. Nearly 3 in 5 say that they call/video chat with their parents at least a few times a week. The least likely? Atheists and agnostics.

A completely true story from the rural Midwest. A lady found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her. She hooked up her truck to his trailer, drug it off it's pad and then dumped it in the middle of a fairly well traveled rural road in the middle of the night. (Pic 1) It stayed there FOR NEARLY A WEEK. Then some dude hit it in his car. (Pic 2) And just yesterday the county government hauled off the mobile home (Pic 3).

48% of Jehovah's Witnesses believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases. Easily the highest of any group. About 1/3 of evangelicals and LDS say it should be legal in most or all cases.