this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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[โ€“] Klear@lemmy.world 18 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

33% Atheist
27% Muslim
30% Jewish
58% Christian (41% being Catholic, so that's about 70% of all Christians)

This just proves that Americans do indeed have more people per capita.

[โ€“] HK65@sopuli.xyz 26 points 6 days ago

Ah, New York City, population 120 million.

[โ€“] ikidd@lemmy.world 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm not buying that atheist one.

I bet if we're going by self-report, a lot of people who "aren't religious" still shy away from the atheism label.

[โ€“] MoreFPSmorebetter@lemmy.zip 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

All the numbers on this chart make no goddamn sense. Even the most right wing of fox news watching nutjobs wouldn't say there are %20+ trans people in the USA. They always claim it's like 3 people and that's why they need to ignore them/they don't matter.

I need to see the region they polled in. Preferably the exact counties because these numbers don't make sense for either of the extreme sides answers, but also the moderates wouldn't answer some of these questions these ways either.

Who TF did they get answers from??

[โ€“] Alfredolin@sopuli.xyz 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

"-How many live in New York?

-30%!"

xD

[โ€“] AdrianTheFrog@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It says 3% of Americans are atheists, but about 29% of Americans are "religiously unaffiliated". I would say the poll only overestimated by 4%.

[โ€“] InFerNo@lemmy.ml 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

People can be agnostic too, I think religiously unaffiliated doesn't mean they are atheist but the reverse is true.

[โ€“] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tbh unless a survey specified otherwise I would think it just means not religious.

[โ€“] squaresinger@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Read the linked source.

the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or 'nothing in particular,'

Many of the unaffiliated retain religious beliefs or practices without affiliating.

One fifth of the US public and a third of adults under the age of 30 are reportedly unaffiliated with any religion, however they identify as being spiritual in some way. Of these religiously unaffiliated Americans, 37% classify themselves as spiritual but not religious.

Affiliation is about which community you are affiliated with. It's not about beliefs at all, actually. Affiliated means "I would call myself an X", and if you are not affiliated with a certain group, you are not affiliated, no matter if you are atheist, agnostic, spiritual but not religious or even religious but not strong enough to actually affiliate with one group.

Remember, atheism is a belief in itself, contrary to agnosticism. Atheism is the conviction that no God exists, even though there's no proof for an absence of a God. Agnosticism on the other hand is acknowledging that there is no proof that God does or doesn't exist, so they just don't care about it.

Atheism is in many ways similar to a religion. There are communities formed around the shared belief that God doesn't exist, they preach that God doesn't exist, they study their literature to find proof that God doesn't exist. They defend their faith that God doesn't exist, like any religious person would defend theirs. There are even atheist missionaries who stand on street corners preaching that God doesn't exist.

To be an Atheist is to believe so strongly that God doesn't exist that it becomes something like a religion in itself, and that's rather rare.

Agnosticism on the other hand is really wide-spread, even within religiously affiliated people. There are tons of religiously affiliated people who are socially religiously affiliated but are actually agnostic ("All my friends and family are X. I don't really care whether God exists or not, I don't really believe in the spiritual teachings of my faith, but I'm not that much at odds with it that I can't live as an X, and denouncing the faith would lead to repercussions, so I'll just formally keep being X, because it's less hassle.").

[โ€“] GraniteM@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

The income estimates are interesting.

We're apparently quite bad at estimating all income levels except who earns $100,000-$500,000 / year.

[โ€“] Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

I think it's because $100k-$500k is a good range for the "rich" people that you normally interact with. That would cover things like lawyers, surgeons, engineers.

[โ€“] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

How tf car-brained USAinians in a car-dependant society assume only half the population owns a car?

Or that a fifth/a quarter of the country is Muslim/transgender/living on a million per year?
Or that NY is a third of the USA?

Is this data just bs?

[โ€“] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The NY one is wild. But cars I can see. Couples who share and teenagers.

[โ€“] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Ok, yes, but the average answer was 50% (edit: 66%), so half of the people assumed less than 50%.

I should have clarified that by 'is data bullshit' I meant it as the surveys work/overall effort - eg unclear questions or not making sure (actively or passively) if folk actually understood the question. It could be something stupid as a matter unclear 'owns' or 'doesn't own', so people were answering in two ways '90% own' and '10% don't own' ... of witch the average is then the bs 50% bcs it's the and metric.
This is just one example of seemingly the simplest things going wrong in surveys & statisticians not having the data/balls to detect issues from datasets or rule the data in question out.

Asking people questions is hard. They are people after all.

[โ€“] endeavor@sopuli.xyz 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Or that 90% have high school degree. Either the education is terrible or the stats are bs.

[โ€“] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Regardless of if the stats are accurate, I can assure you the education is terrible.

[โ€“] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Clearly 24%(=89%-65%) of the population with a highschool degree give the impression they don't have it.

Tbh that seems fair, perhaps a bit low :D.

[โ€“] humanspiral@lemmy.ca -1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Live in NYC could be 5%-6% for greater area. Self reported Atheism can be influenced by wanting to be in an in group. Its more than 3%.

How is driver's license possession lower than car ownership?

Licenses are cheap, cars can be shared, people tend to get a license before they get a car too. You would expect licenses to be more common than ownership. Also no matter how many cars you own, it only counts as one for this stat, one car owner can own many cars and still be just one car owner.

[โ€“] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 125 points 1 week ago (13 children)

People think that 1/5 americans are trans? Billionaire owned media really does shit in our brains, huh?

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