Overview
At the time of making this post, I had 1136 responses. The original survey can be found here.
I posted the survey three times in /r/SampleSize and once in /r/Christianity (with approval) because the majority of Reddit is atheist/agnostic/none and I wanted to get a more accurate representation of the perspectives of people from Abrahamic religions. However, this survey still represents opinions of average Reddit users rather than the opinions of the general population.
You can hover over the graphs to see the number of responses for each answer. This post is significantly just graphs, so I split it onto two pages to load faster. It also looks way better on a desktop than on mobile. As more responses come in, the graphs will update, but my descriptions will not.
Note: I'm not a statistician and I don't study religions. I was just curious.
Demographics
What country are you from?
Age, location, and race/ethnicity results significantly represent the average Reddit user-base, so not too surprising.
"AMAB" means "Assigned Male at Birth".
Within the "Other" category of sexual orientation, there are 3 demisexuals, 1 heteroromantic homosexual, 1 polyamorous heterosexual, 1 heteroflexible, 1 questioning, and 3 Unsure. One of the unsure also specified that they don't label their sexuality, but that they are generally "not straight".
Interestingly, not everyone who identifies as a gender other than male/female or as non-heterosexual identified as LGBT+. For instance, only 64% of bisexuals and 44% of asexuals identified as LGBT+, and 24% and 30% identified as Maybe LGBT+, respectively.
Alternatively, 95% of Gay/Lesbian people identified as LGBT+, with 0% (actually 0 people) saying that they were Not LGBT+.
91% of Heterosexuals said that they were Not LGBT+, but 4.5% said they were LGBT+ and 4.5% said they were Maybe LGBT+. Keep in mind, this only takes sexuality into consideration, not gender identity, and (as someone noted in the comments) some heterosexual people may have put LGBT+ or Maybe LGBT+ to indicate that they support LGBT+ people as an Ally.
Interestingly, not everyone who identifies as a gender other than male/female or as non-heterosexual identified as LGBT+. For instance, only 64% of bisexuals and 44% of asexuals identified as LGBT+, and 24% and 30% identified as Maybe LGBT+, respectively.
Alternatively, 95% of Gay/Lesbian people identified as LGBT+, with 0% (actually 0 people) saying that they were Not LGBT+.
91% of Heterosexuals said that they were Not LGBT+, but 4.5% said they were LGBT+ and 4.5% said they were Maybe LGBT+. Keep in mind, this only takes sexuality into consideration, not gender identity, and (as someone noted in the comments) some heterosexual people may have put LGBT+ or Maybe LGBT+ to indicate that they support LGBT+ people as an Ally.
Selected "Other" answers:
Socalist (3 people), Democratic Socialist (2), Socal Democrat (2), Scandinavian Socialist (1), Anarchist (2), 3rd Position, Libertarian/left (1), Libertarian/right (1), Moderate/left-leaning (2), Humanist (1), Constitutionalist (1), Republican (1), Traditionalist (1), Meritocratic (1), and Bismarckian (1).
An additional 6 people said that they do not use labels for their political positions.
One person wrote:
Socalist (3 people), Democratic Socialist (2), Socal Democrat (2), Scandinavian Socialist (1), Anarchist (2), 3rd Position, Libertarian/left (1), Libertarian/right (1), Moderate/left-leaning (2), Humanist (1), Constitutionalist (1), Republican (1), Traditionalist (1), Meritocratic (1), and Bismarckian (1).
An additional 6 people said that they do not use labels for their political positions.
One person wrote:
Religiousness
The previous generation was raised more religious than the respondents, in both the 15% decrease in "Yes" answers and the 16% increase in "No" answers. However, this reflects the average Reddit user significantly better than the average person in general.
The breakdown of denominations includes any past and current denominations, giving one point to each denomination mentioned regardless of current religion.
(scroll to see the rest of the Christianity denominations )
For the rest of the analysis, I organized the "Current" religious/non-religious groups into four major categories: Abrahamic (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Baha'i), Atheist/Agnostic/None (including agnostic atheists and apatheists), Eastern Religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism), and Other Religions.
Due to small reporting numbers (combined n=54), the "Other Religions" category includes the following belief systems:
Change in Religion over Time
The left side is the religion raised with, and the right side is the current religions. (General Categories)
You can hover over the bands to see the specific count of each group.
The left side is the religion raised with, and the right side is the current religions. (General Categories)
You can hover over the bands to see the specific count of each group.
Averages: 2.9 for Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, 5.6 for Abrahamic, 5.7 for Eastern, and 4.5 for Other religions.
For Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, this was probably interpreted to mean how much they agreed with their former religion's beliefs and teachings rather than how much they agree with their current beliefs of atheism/agnosticism/etc.
Averages: 1.5 for Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, 5.4 for Abrahamic, 3.9 for Eastern, and 3.8 for Other religions.
For Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, this was probably interpreted to mean how much they agreed with their former religion's beliefs and teachings rather than how much they agree with their current beliefs of atheism/agnosticism/etc.
Averages: 1.5 for Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, 5.4 for Abrahamic, 3.9 for Eastern, and 3.8 for Other religions.
Averages: 2.7 for Atheists/Agnostics/Nones, 5.4 for Abrahamic, 3.6 for Eastern, and 3.4 for Other religions.
It's not that surprising that Atheists, Agnostics, and Nones do not place importance on religion in their daily lives.
- 7 non-religious, 2 Abrahamic, 1 Other religion may or may not believe in an afterlife, but do not consider it important enough to define right now.
- 2 people (both Other religion) believe in the Summerland.
- 8 non-religious and 1 Eastern religious person believe that a soul is an aspect of our personality rather than a spiritual object.
- 4 non-religious people asked for the definition of a soul.
- 4 believe in an abstract, non-literal, non-biblical soul.
- 3 Abrahamic people believe that we are souls that have bodies.
- 5 people were uncertain
My favorite response: "Yes, in that people use the word soul to describe their software :-)"
General Questions
- 5 Atheist/Agnostic/None people said that evolution is an observable scientific fact and is true whether or not you "believe" in it.
- The remaining 2 "Other" answers were: "I do not believe that everything evolved from 1 single celled organism, but I do believe there was a common ancestor." and "I think it is the most practical theory to explain our existence yet. But who knows--we might find, discover or theorize something revolutionary about the problem of where we came from!"
"Other" answers in the Abrahamic group:
- 6 people said that they believe in microevolution (adaptation and natural selection), but not macroevolution (common descent and inter-species evolution).
- 5 people say that God created life or invented evolution, including one person who defers to God since science has been proven wrong before.
- Of the remaining 2 "Other" answers, one does not know enough about evolution to make a decision and one doesn't think it matters.
- 8 people disliked that I used the word "believe" again to describe scientific facts.
- 18 people believe that climate change is at least partially due to humans, including accelerating natural climate change.
- 4 people don't care or don't know enough to form an opinion.
- 2 people believe in climate change but think the role of humans is debatable.
- 2 people said that only non-religious people have morals because their morals are based on the "general good" and not solely out of fear of divine punishment.
- 6 people think that non-religious people have either no morals or poor morals because they are not based on an "objective source of morality".
- 3 people believe that non-religious people can have morals, but that they might be inadvertently based on religious morals because of cultural influence.
- 5 people dislike the concept of morals in general.
Selected "Other" responses:
- 4 people think it should be a case by case basis,
- 2 people believe everyone should have the option, including non-terminally ill people,
- 5 people support the use of professional psychological evaluation first.
- 1 person agreed but specifically noted that there should be "strong regulations to protect those with disabilities from getting their voices taken away."
Of the "Other" responses:
- 10 think that religion should influence people's individual political beliefs, particularly with voting.
- 9 people think that religion can influence government and politicians as long as laws also have secular arguments and are not based on the doctrines of specific religious organizations.
- 6 people believe it should only be in government under anti-discrimination laws and when involved in human rights advocacy.
- 2 "Super No" answers.
- 1 Abrahamic person also thinks that religious people should not hold any political offices and should only act as advisers.
"Other" responses include:
- 27 people (16 non-religious, 8 Abrahamic, 1 Eastern, 2 Other) supported tax exemptions for religious organizations only if they perform charity or community service that would otherwise qualify them for exemptions.
- 3 people (2 Ath/Agn/None, 1 Abrahamic) said that they should qualify for tax exemptions only if they remain completely removed from politics.
- 2 non-religious and 2 Abrahamic people supported tax exemptions for small/local religious organizations but not large organizations or controversial churches like Scientology or Westboro Baptist Church.
- 2 people specified that even if the organization has tax exemptions, the employees should still pay income taxes.
- 26 of the "Other" answers believe that multiple world religions, their histories, and cultures should be discussed or taught as part of a curriculum rather than enforcing any single religion as the "true" religion.
- 6 people believe individuals should express their own religious beliefs without limitation as long as it is not forced on anyone else.
- 5 people think religion should have some limited influence, such as religious holidays.
- 4 people believe religion can have influence in private schools and universities, but not in public schools.
- 4 people do not support the existence of public schools.
- 2 very enthusiastic "No" answers
The "Other" answers include:
- 3 people think that the "Under God" section should be optional.
- 4 people think that "Under God' should stay for historic reasons or because it's not worth the money/effort to change.
- 3 people pointed out that the "Under God" section was not in the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance
- 1 person said "I am American and I am highly opposed to *children* being made to say the pledge of allegiance with or without "under God" (and let's face it, how often does anyone say it anywhere but in schools??)"
- 1 person said "I think if we continue to claim to be under God, we should actually obey His law. Given the current state of America being in defiance of God, no."
