With all the brouhaha over the Pew religion survey, does anyone remember ARIS?

[TechBear_Seattle]

American Religious Identification Survey, 2001
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/aris_index.htm

Of particular interest, from the "Key Findings" section:



Notice that 14.1% of all Americans -- about 1 in 7 -- were classed as "Non-religious."

At the bottom of the "Key Findings" is a break down of religious belief by state. My state, Washington, had the highest percentages of "Non-Religious" at 25%. Other states with large non-religious populations were: Vermont (22%), Oregon (21%), Colorado (21%), Wyoming (20%) and Nevada (20%).

The results did not figure in Alaska and Hawaii, which were excluded because of cost.

[cosmik debris]

1. The "No Religion" group shows tremendous growth.

From 8.2% in 1990 to 14.1% in 2001.

That's pretty impressive.

[ozone_man]

2. The latest data would indicate VT is less religious than WA.

:)

http://religions.pewforum.org/maps

I'm not sure I like the the way the questions are asked. And wtf is the universal spirit?

[YankeyMCC]

3. Universal Spirit

a spirit that can be used for any flesh shell maybe? You know like a Universal Remote works for all your electronics.

Could be handy if you're no good at caring for pets or something, keep a universal spirit around and pop it into whatever pet you feel like playing with at the time then take it out when done and put the body in the cooler.

;)

[progressoid]

4. Ugh. I hate having to re-program my universal spirit when the batteries die.

Either I can't find the instruction booklet or I can't remember the model number of my spiritual energy guide. :grr: what a pain.