The following article was passed on to me by Clive Craigen and it’s worth the read. Check it out:
Statistical Illusion
New study confirms that we go to church much less than we say.by Bob Smietana | posted 05/02/2006 09:30 a.m.
From Christianity Today.
Did you go to church this week? That’s the question that Gallup pollsters have been asking Americans for more than 75 years. And each year since 1939, about 40 percent of those polled have said yes. (The actual question: “Did you yourself happen to attend church or synagogue in the last seven days?”)
That doesn’t mean that, on any given Sunday, 118 million Americans (40 percent of the population) will actually be in church. According to sociologists who study religion, the actual number of people in church each week in the United States is significantly lower than the Gallup Poll indicates. Just how low is a matter of some debate. More here