How Measurement Changes Can Exaggerate the Growth of Religious “Nones”
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Matthew Conrad, Conrad Hackett Sociological Science February 3, 2026 10.15195/v13.a5 Abstract Academic and popular interest in nonreligion has risen in parallel with the growth of religiously unaffiliated populations. In many countries, census and survey questions used to measure religion have been modified to better capture nonreligious identities. Little attention has been given to how these changes in measures affect specific claims about the rise of the “nones.” Although there is no doubt th