Christians Might Be Crazy

PHONE SURVEY

To get at people’s real questions, a rigorous study examining the attitudes and perceptions of Christianity among the unchurched nones and dechurched dones was commissioned.

• The unchurched nones attend worship services every few months—or less—and did not regularly attend worship services at any point of their life, including as a child.
• The dechurched dones attend worship services every few months—or less—but at some point in their life regularly attended worship services, including as a child.

For reliability and credibility, I chose one of the world’s leading market research firms to conduct the survey. GfK Public Affairs & Corporate Communications randomly dialed 913,425 telephone numbers to obtain a reliable and nationally-representative sample of a thousand unchurched nones and dechurched dones. Three-quarters of the survey participants were dechurched dones. A quarter were unchurched nones. The people who took the call and engaged in conversations that lasted an average of twelve minutes were all between ages 18 and 44, with a mean age of 31. Here is an overview of what we heard:

Religious affiliation (“Which of the following best describes your religious affiliation?”)

Christianity: 51%
Islam: 2%
Buddhism: 2%
Judaism: 1%
Hinduism: 1%
Other religion: 13%
No religion: 30%
Refused: 1%

Christian history (“Have you ever, at any time in your life, affiliated with the Christian religion, or not?”)

Yes—a Christian: 60%
No—not a Christian: 39%
Refused: 1%

Religious participation (“How often do you attend worship services, not including special events such as weddings, funerals, or major religious holidays such as Easter, Yom Kippur or Ramadan?”)

Every few months: 13%
Once in a while: 50%
Never: 37%

Childhood religious participation (“As a child, did you ever attend worship services regularly—by regularly we mean at least once a month or not?”)

Yes: 75% (dechurched)
No: 25% (unchurched)
People who identified as Christians: 77%
People who identified as non-Christians: 22%