
Income Distribution Within U.S. Religious Groups - pitdesi
http://pewforum.org/Income-Distribution-Within-US-Religious-Groups.aspx#
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ncavig
Even atheism isn't a religion, I'd like to see what the distribution is for
individuals that would classify themselves as atheists. I see there's an
unaffiliated category. According to the site;

This group (unaffiliated) includes atheists, agnostics and people who describe
their religion as “nothing in particular.” This latter group can be further
divided into “secular unaffiliated” and “religious unaffiliated.”

~~~
pitdesi
I agree... On a somewhat related note, Atheists have better grammar:
[http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-best-questions-for-
fir...](http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-best-questions-for-first-dates/)
(search "religion")

~~~
gjm11
> Athiests have better grammar

Yup. And some of us can even spell "atheists". :-)

(I think it's worth distinguishing between "atheists have better grammar" and
"people who identify themselves as atheist on dating sites use better grammar
there". It may well be that both are true, but from the second to the first is
quite a leap.)

~~~
pitdesi
wow, i'm embarrassed so I corrected myself... used to be a spelling champ!

I think you're probably right that there is a difference between all atheists
and those who identify themselves as such on a dating site, but I can't put my
finger on why that would be. Is there also a difference between all
hindus/muslims/etc and those identifying themselves as such?

~~~
gjm11
1\. "Atheists" and "Atheists using OK Cupid" might be quite different
populations. For instance, the latter might be younger, geekier, richer,
poorer, etc.

2\. "Atheists using OK Cupid" and "Atheists identifying themselves as such on
OK Cupid" might be different. (I haven't used OKC, so I don't actually know,
but surely you aren't _required_ to state your (ir)religious position?) For
instance, the latter might be more likely to regard atheism as important,
which might (e.g.) correlate with having arrived at atheism by careful
consideration of the available evidence and arguments, which might correlate
with better grammar or at least more care over grammar. (Yeah, that's a lot of
mights.)

3\. Being better at grammar is not the same thing as using more accurate
grammar in the things you write at OK Cupid. (You might be extra-careful or
deliberately inaccurate; it would depend on what you expect your "audience" to
like.) Nor is it the same as caring whether other people's bad grammar annoys
you.

And yes, all these things would apply to any group. For instance, I understand
that there are Hindu-specific dating sites; so maybe Hindus on OK Cupid are, I
dunno, likely to be less concerned about meeting other Hindus, which might
mean that they tend to be more cosmopolitan, which might correlate with being
better educated. Or something. Again, lots of mights. But you have to be
really careful about extrapolating from this kind of thing to the population
at large.

------
quesoviejo
I'd like to see this data adjusted for comparative cost of living. I don't
think that was done here. E.g. Mormons in UT earning 75k are essentially in
the same earning bracket as Hindus in Silicon Valley making 100k+.

