# Percent of adherents to various religions describing themselves as 'devout', 'secular', . . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 24, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652 "2011-10-24T17:43:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/1 "2011-10-24T17:43:31Z")

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Is there an online source which lists, by religion, the percent of adherents who describe themselves as ‘devout’, ‘orthodox’, ‘not practising’, ‘secular’, ‘just for the holidays’, etc.?

I am mostly interested in figures for North America and Europe.

Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/2 "2011-10-24T18:31:30Z")

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_This_ is the descriptive field that online dating sites need. 🙂

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/3 "2011-10-24T19:05:38Z")

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> [@Sunspace](#):
>
> _This_ is the descriptive field that online dating sites need. 🙂

OKCupid has fields with something like “Protestant and devout,” “Jewish and not serious about it,” “SubGenius and laughing about it.” Maybe I made up some of that.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/4 "2011-10-26T02:34:38Z")

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I am a believer in bumping but I wouldn’t call myself orthodox.

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**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/5 "2011-10-26T11:11:27Z")

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I think the Pew Forum’s extensive surveys on U.S. religious life could be very close to what you are looking for.

Go [here](http://religions.pewforum.org/portraits), and click on “Beliefs and Practices.” You can choose any faith.

While there is no “orthodoxy” question, but you can see how many people of each faith believe in God, believe their religion is the only way to get to heaven, etc. Not quite what you were asking, but close.

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percent-of-adherents-to-various-religions-describing-themselves-as-devout-secular/600652/6 "2011-10-26T17:08:01Z")

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> [@Erdosain](#):
>
> I think the Pew Forum’s extensive surveys on U.S. religious life could be very close to what you are looking for.
> 
> Go [here](http://religions.pewforum.org/portraits), and click on “Beliefs and Practices.” You can choose any faith.
> 
> While there is no “orthodoxy” question, but you can see how many people of each faith believe in God, believe their religion is the only way to get to heaven, etc. Not quite what you were asking, but close.

Very, very helpful. Much obliged!