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Religious Practice and Social Boundaries Data
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About
Presents the detailed results of a focused public opinion survey concerning religious practice and social tolerance. The poll captures data from 661 respondents on their frequency of public religious observance (such as praying or wearing religious attire) and their corresponding comfort levels, both when performing these acts themselves and when observing others of different faiths doing so. The dataset is key for studying contemporary social dynamics, religious freedom, and interfaith interaction.
Columns
The dataset contains 48 distinct columns covering identification, behaviour, and comfort metrics. The fields track:
- Religious Identity: Details of the respondent’s current religion (e.g., Protestant, None of these) and whether they self-identify as evangelical.
- Observance Frequency: Measures how often respondents engage in specific public actions, including praying with visible motions (like bowing), using physical objects (like a rosary), declining food or beverages for religious reasons, or unprompted discussion of religion.
- Personal Comfort Levels: The respondent’s self-reported comfort when performing a variety of religious acts in a public setting.
- Perceived External Comfort: The respondent’s estimation of how comfortable an observer outside their religion would be seeing them perform specific public acts (e.g., praying before a meal).
- Interfaith Comfort: The respondent’s comfort level when witnessing someone who practices a different religion engage in public acts, such as wearing religious clothing or participating in a street procession.
- Demographics: Standard attributes including age brackets (e.g., 45–59, 30–44), gender (with 53% identifying as female), household income (e.g., $25,000 to $49,999), and US Region (e.g., South Atlantic, East North Central).
Distribution
The survey results are available as a CSV file, labelled
religion-survey-results.csv, and totals 762.12 kB in size. The structure includes 48 variables. While the underlying poll engaged 661 respondents, many validation fields show up to 1040 records.Usage
This resource is highly valuable for research in social science, journalism, and public policy. Ideal uses include:
- Academic Analysis: Modelling the correlation between religious attendance, specific religious acts, and the acceptance of those acts by the general public.
- Journalistic Inquiry: Providing data points and context for reporting on religious freedom, secularisation trends, and social boundaries in the US.
- Policy Development: Informing discussions about religious accommodation and the management of public space by quantifying where social friction may occur.
- Behavioural Studies: Examining the gap between personal comfort in practising faith and the perceived comfort of external witnesses.
Coverage
The data collection period was tightly constrained, running from July 29 to August 1, 2016. The data was gathered via a SurveyMonkey poll of US residents, offering regional segmentation. Demographic detail is strong, capturing data across age groups (45–59 being the most frequent), gender, and detailed household income brackets.
License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Who Can Use It
- Sociologists and Religious Studies Scholars: To explore shifts in American religious tolerance and interfaith relations.
- Data Journalists and Newsrooms: To visualise and report on social attitudes toward public piety.
- Advocacy Groups: To understand public perception concerning specific religious practices like wearing attire or fasting rituals.
- Public Policy Analysts: To assess the need for legal or social frameworks governing religious expression in shared spaces.
Dataset Name Suggestions
- Public Comfort and Displays of Religion Survey Results
- US Attitudes Towards Public Faith 2016
- Religious Practice and Social Boundaries Data
- When Does Praying In Public Make Others Uncomfortable?
Attributes
Original Data Source: Religious Practice and Social Boundaries Data
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