Religiosity and Cell Phone Data

The analysis of cell phone data reveals significant insights into religiosity in the United States. Approximately 73% of Americans visit a place of worship at least once a year, including churches, synagogues, and mosques. However, the weekly attendance is drastically lower than the data suggests, with only about 5% attending religious services weekly, challenging the conventional survey-based figures that claim up to 25%. This discrepancy is largely attributed to social desirability bias in surveys, highlighting the need for more accurate methods to study religious attendance.