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22% of Americans Claim Weekly Church — Only 5% Actually Go

22% self-reported vs 5% GPS-verified. LDS reports match reality.
Source: University of Chicago / NBER, Devin Pope

University of Chicago researcher Devin Pope tracked 2.1 million cell phones and compared GPS-verified church attendance to self-reported survey data.

22% of Americans claim they attend church weekly, but only 5% actually do. The gap reveals significant overreporting across most religious groups. LDS members are among the few groups where self-reported attendance closely matches GPS-verified behavior.

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