The fall of religion in America

[vgane]

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Not clear where US is heading? No religion are presently 15% of the total population; for those between 18-29 years 22% identify with no religion!!It is mainly the former Catholics who are turning agnostics and skeptics!! (Source http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/NONES_08.pdf)

The fall of religion in America.

Brain & Behaviour – March 21[SUP]st[/SUP], 2016 – Meta Science News



More Americans than ever believe the bible “is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by men” according to a nationally presentative survey.

Are Americans finally turning their backs on God? While Americans have long claimed exceptionalism to the modern decline of religion across the western world, two recent studies have offered proof that the United States is no longer the exception, it is the norm. Not only do fewer Americans pray, attend religious services or acknowledge a belief in God than ever before, but they are not even claiming to be religious in private either. Has spirituality simply replaced religion? Apparently not: spirituality declined between 2006 and 2014 in the United States too. Americans appear to following their neighbours to the north in becoming more secular.A new study, led by Professor Jean M. Twenge author of Generation Me and published in Sage Open, has examined the responses of 58,893 participants in the General Social Survey, a survey of U.S. adults that took place between 1972 and 2014. The results of the new study are striking, concluding that five times more Americans prayed in the early 1980s than in 2014 while nearly twice as many Americans believed in God in the 1980s than they do now.

Americans today are also less likely to believe that the Bible is divinely inspired with 22% of respondents agreeing with the statement that the Bible “is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by men” compared to the 14% who agreed with this in 1984 (a 57% increase).
​

While previous studies have stated that Americans were just as religious in private even if they were less likely to publically affiliate with a religion, Professor Twenge argues that this is no longer the case. The decline in religion is occurring, and it has been particularly striking between 2006 and 2014.Professor David Voas at the University College of London and Professor Mark Chaves at Duke University agree. Their recent study, published in the American Journal of Sociology, showed that belief in the United States is finally starting to mirror the pattern of declining religion in Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.The decline has been slow, Professor Voas acknowledged, but it’s unmistakeable and it’s driven by generational differences. While 68% of Americans over 65 years old currently have no doubt that God exists, only 45% of young adults aged 18 to 30 agree. In terms of church attendance, 41% of people over 70 attend at least once a month compared to only 18% of people 60 years old and younger. The overall decline has been spurred by the changing demographics, and it’s most noticeable in the 18- to 29-year-old segment of the population that are least likely to have any religious ties. In fact, so few Millennials claim religious affiliation, regularly attend church, or believe in God that this generation is a contender for the title of the least religious generation in American history.Although three times as many Americans claim no religious affiliation in 2014 than they did in the early 1970s, for those who are lamenting the decline in American religiosity, fear not: the majority of Americans are still religious…at least for now.


http://news.meta.com/2016/03/21/the-fall-of-religion-in-america/

 

[prasad1]

In some of the countries you get "stoned" or killed if you are not religious. I think given a choice and equal knowledge the split between religious and not religious might be much closer than this map suggests.
In general Poverty and lack of knowledge makes a person religious and/or superstitious.

 

[prasad1]

IQ and Religion

The graph shown above relates the arithmetic mean IQ measured in various country's populations, to the fraction of each country's population that believes religion is very important.​

The green diamonds represent individual countries; the yellow line is a linear regression (y = mx + b), calculated by the least squares method. The United States data point is circled in red. TK Solver was used to create the graph from the data listed in the table below:​

Country​	Percent who say religion is very important (Pew survey)​	IQ (from Lynn & Vanhanen)​
Angola​	80​	69​
Argentina	39	96
Bangladesh	88	81
Bolivia	66	85
Brazil	77	87
Bulgaria	13	93
Canada	30	97
Czech Republic	11	97
France	11	98
Germany	21	102
Ghana	84	71
Great Britain	33	100
Guatemala	80	79
Honduras	72	84
India	92	81
Indonesia	95	89
Italy	27	102
Ivory Coast	91	71
Japan	12	105
Kenya	85	72
Mali	90	68
Mexico	57	87
Nigeria	92	67
Pakistan	91	81
Peru	69	90
Philipines	88	86
Poland	36	99
Russia	14	96
Senegal	97	64
Slovakia	29	95
South Africa	87	72
South Korea	25	106
Tanzania	83	72
Turkey	65	90
United States	59	98
Uganda	85	73
Ukraine	35	96
Uzbekistan	35	87
Venezuela	61	88
Vietnam	24	96

The data shown above begs the question: what would be revealed by a survey that correlated IQ and religiosity on an individual basis? Within a given population, is religion more important to persons of high intelligence, or low intelligence?

---

The religious attitude data is from a poll that was part of the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The survey report is available online at:
http://pewglobal.org/reports/display.php?ReportID=167

The question wording used in the poll was as follows:

How important is religion in your life—very important, somewhat important, not too important, or not at all important?
​

http://hypnosis.home.netcom.com/iq_vs_religiosity.htm

 

[prasad1]

Religiosity, in its broadest sense, is a comprehensive sociological term used to refer to the numerous aspects of religious activity, dedication, and belief (religious doctrine). Another term that would work equally well, though less often used, is religiousness.
In its narrowest sense, religiosity deals more with how religious a person is, and less with how a person is religious (in practicing certain rituals, retelling certain stories, revering certain symbols, or accepting certain doctrines about deities and afterlife).

A market-based theory of religious choice and governmental regulation of religion have been the dominant theories used to explain variations of religiosity between societies. However, Gill and Lundsgaarde (2004) documented a much stronger correlation between welfare state spending and religiosity.

 

[yesmohan]

Subject to the reliability of survey and data of the IQ and Religious belief, it is found that in an overall,in all countries, Intelligent Quotient and Religious belief are inversely proportional to each other.

Lower the IQ.......Higher the Religious belief;
Higher the IQ......Lower the Religious belief.

 

[yesmohan]

In India the average IQ index revealed in the survey is 81.

Religious belief of people in India is 92 %As such, the average of the IQ of people in India is below average ( IQ level 84 to 114 is construed as average)
Now,in this context what could be the slogan of politicians in India ?
Increase the IQ and remain religious !!

 

[tbs]

hi

in communist countries...there is no religion....means they are better off than others?....

 

[krish44]

in communist countries, religion is driven away by the force of gun.

IQ has nothing to do with it

 

[yesmohan]

hi

in communist countries...there is no religion....means they are better off than others?....

In many researches, the research scholars conveniently omit the data that will contradict the intended research.
OR the guide might have directed the scholar to exclude China from the subjected area of research.

 

[yesmohan]

One interesting thing is ...... in all the countries including developed countries IQ level is average or less than average; in

1/3rd of the countries IQ is found less than average. ( average IQ is considered as between 84 and 114 )

 

[auh]

Subject to the reliability of survey and data of the IQ and Religious belief, it is found that in an overall,in all countries, Intelligent Quotient and Religious belief are inversely proportional to each other.

Lower the IQ.......Higher the Religious belief;
Higher the IQ......Lower the Religious belief.

I think it might be due to the reason that lower the religious belief, the more one is forced to think about his actions. The religious need not exercise their brain much ! Everything is in black and white in the holy books.

 

[CHANDRU1849]

What is the meaning of 'very important' and what about the remaining, especially in the case of some European countries like France, Italy, Germany and of course Japan?

Can we presume the remaining has no religion or follow only occasionally on specific occasions like Christmas?

Considering India's size population and its multi-religious structure, the IQ level is quite reasonable. No other country is as diverse as India in religion.

 

[CHANDRU1849]

In India the average IQ index revealed in the survey is 81.

Religious belief of people in India is 92 %As such, the average of the IQ of people in India is below average ( IQ level 84 to 114 is construed as average)
Now,in this context what could be the slogan of politicians in India ?
Increase the IQ and remain religious !!

What is the good IQ level? If it is > 114, no country has such level, even where religion is not very important - Italy, France, Germany, Japan etc.

 

[vgane]

American IQ lower than Japanese....But all the major innovations are coming from US! What a contradiction!

 

[yesmohan]

What is the good IQ level? If it is > 114, no country has such level, even where religion is not very important - Italy, France, Germany, Japan etc.

I Q	Belongs to the category
85 -114	Average
115 -129	Above average
130 -144	Gifted (2.3% of test takers)
145 -159	Genius (Less than 1% of test takers)

Sir,

Please note that the results of IQ tests are some times, most subjective and would not reveal the true picture.

As per the survey referred therein in the thread, the average IQ of Indians is said to be around 81.

 

[yesmohan]

American IQ lower than Japanese....But all the major innovations are coming from US! What a contradiction!

Yes Sir.

One more observation. The neighbours have the same IQ.

Bangladesh	88	81
India	92	81
Pakistan	91	81

Some intelligent research scholars used to collect data in a smart way, completethe research adhering to the norms of the research methodologies ,submit the papers well ahead; successfully get away with their Doctorates.

 

[prasad1]

American IQ lower than Japanese....But all the major innovations are coming from US! What a contradiction!

There is no correlation between IQ and innovation. Americans are risk takers. American banks are risk takers. Most of the hedge funds are American. So money is in plenty for innovation.