The Gallup organization did a major, international survey of religiosity. Gallup pollsters asked this question:

Is religion an important part of your daily life?

The results show Americans to be more religious than the French: 65% of Americans surveyed answered in the affirmative, compared to 25% of French respondents.

Conventional wisdom says that Americans are outwardly religious and that the French are deeply secular. The Gallup survey seems to support this conventional view.

The results for Americans actually turn to out to be more diverse than the average percentage. Religiosity spans a range, with “yes” votes climbing to 85% in Mississippi or 82% in Alabama, but falling to 46% in New Hampshire or 42% in Vermont. But all states in the United States showed affirmative answers far above French responders.

The question asked blots some important differences. As Gallup points out, the results “say nothing about what being highly religious means in different parts of the world and among different faiths.”

Gallup takes care in crafting questions used in surveys, but some aspects of the question give pause:

  • In some parts of the world –such as Egypt, which scored a 100% affirmative answer– strong cultural pressures may promote or even require an outwardly religious lifestyle. For these people, the question may have been akin to, “Are you patriotic?” or “Do you love your spouse?”
  • In other parts of the world, such as France, the question may be socially inappropriate. French secularism is rooted and attached to the idea that religion is a matter of personal conviction, and hence is a private affair. Replying in the negative may be a polite way to convey to a stranger that this is not an appropriate subject for casual conversation.
  • In a similar way, the “important” qualifier may lead respondents, including sincerely religious people, to answer “no” out of modesty or the belief that it is polite or socially better not to show pride in religious practice.
  • The “daily life” qualifier may have deflated affirmative responses, depending on styles of religious practice, especially if respondents think of visible practice instead of personal conviction. Attending church every Sunday may have skewed to “no” answers, if the respondent focuses on church attendance (and only on church attendance).
  • Especially in post-religious countries –I’m thinking of France and the UK– practices that elsewhere would be thought of as religious or expressions of religiosity may be thought of as secular. in other words, the perimeter between religious life and secular life may not be the same in the USA and in the UK. Examples would include concern for the homeless or the environment.

Whatever the limits or shortcomings of the question, thanks to Gallup for contributing this data to the public square and providing an impetus for others to find out more.