Thread by @JustSayXtian

Once again, I am asking:
How is Pew so bad at this?
Every single thing about this is hot garbage, but the hottest garbage of all is their claim in the first paragraph that they are defining "religious traits" that cut across different faiths.
pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the…

Everything about this - every single thing - is Christian normative. Guys, you literally named your 'most religious' category "Sunday Stalwarts".

And in fact, there isn't any way a system like this could avoid Christian normativity. The whole idea that there could possibly be a universal hierarchy from 'most religious' to 'least religious' assumes a universal definition of religious beliefs, precepts and values.

But of course, there is no such universal definition, so instead Pew, following doggedly in it's own footsteps, just categorized everything according to Christian norms and definitions and then claimed to have found categories that "unite people of different faiths"

Which is very often how Christian hegemony works. If you start with the given that every single person will be put into a category, and then you define the categories according to Christian norms, the fact that everyone is in a Christian normative category is meaningless

It doesn't prove that the category is a good fit for non-Christians, it just proves that the category is the least bad fit of those available for a person that doesn't actually fit in any of them.

I mean, for pete's sake @pewresearch, you're literally defining "most religious" as holding views most aligned with a literal interpretation of Christian theology. You're defining belief in "New Age" ideas - many of which *are parts of non-Christian religions* - as less religious

It's no surprise, of course, that you get biased data when your questionnaire is saturated with implicit Christian bias.

assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/upl…

Every single question about religion in this survey assumes Christian normative ideas about what religion is. Every single question about religious (not spiritual!) belief, for example, assumes "religion" implies belief in a monotheistic God.

Belief in not just a monotheistic God, but the monotheistic God *as described in the Bible* is associated with 'religious'.

Religion is assumed to involve "attending services". The place where services are held is offered as a "church or other house of worship", and the institutions that offer services are "churches and religious organizations". Every single question implies Christianity as normative

Religion is assumed to involve prayer. Religion is assumed to involve scripture. If you didn't answer a question about religious affiliation, the scripture is assumed to be "the Bible".

The entire thing, from top to bottom, from soup to nuts is about how the respondent relates to Christian ideas about religion, not how they relate to their own religion. It writes off, from the get go, non-Christian religious ideas and practices.

Forcing non-Christians into boxes defined by Christian norms does nothing but further entrench the idea that Christianity is platonic ideal of religion - the measuring stick by which all else is accounted. It's hegemonic erasure of everyone else.

If you want to find out how religious a Jewish person is, ask Jewish-normative questions. Ask Buddhists Buddhism-normative questions. Ask Sikhs Sikh-normative questions. Drill down on sub-divisions within the communities *they* belong to, instead of the ones *you* belong to.

And, for the love of God @pewresearch , stop saying "religious" when you mean "Christian".

(see what I did there?)