A Miscellany 101
Esquire Survey
A discussion has been opened on this article. To add your comments to the debate, please use the contact page.
There was an interesting survey in the July 2006 issue of Esquire (US edition) on the American Man.[1]
Following are a few of the results I found relevant to this site, and some brief comments.
| Which of these three words best describes your belief (or not) in God? | |||||
| . | National Average |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Believer | 78% | 66% | 77% | 88% | 74% |
| Atheist | 6 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| Agnostic | 16 | 24 | 20 | 10 | 16 |
I found this surprising and gratifying. Most surveys on religious preference report more atheists than agnostics - or don't consider agnostics a separate category at all.
| How often do you go to a church, synagogue, mosque, or other house of worship? |
|||||
| . | National Average |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West |
| Every Day | 2% | 1% | 2% | 3% | less than 1% |
| At least once per week | 14 | 16 | 28 | 29 | 18 |
| Once a month | 10 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 10 |
| Only on holidays | 22 | 33 | 22 | 17 | 19 |
| Never | 42 | 42 | 39 | 36 | 53 |
Even among believers, going to religious services does not seem to be a high priority.
| Average number of sex partners of believers | 8.8 |
| Average number of sex partners of atheists and agnostics | 10.7 |
Not a big difference, and if we assume that at least some believers do practice their beliefs of no sex before marriage, and none outside of marriage, then it is probable that the rest of the believers are getting at least as much variety as we are.
| Have you ever cheated on your wife or significant other? | No 75% |
. | Yes 25% |
I guess I am a little cynical - I suspect there are a lot of liars in that 75%, or at least some who use a Clintonian definition of adultery.
Footnotes:
- If anyone has access to similar statistics on American women or on men and women in other countries, please send them in.