Ed Stetzer for Christianity Today doesn't realize Americans "overreport" their rate of church attendance by in excess of 50%

If you don't like calling this lying, think of it as the expression of an aspiration.

Here:

Church attendance data over time is important here. In 1940, 37% of Americans said, “yes,” when asked by Gallup if they had been to church within the last week. In 2015, almost the same number—36%—said they’d been to church. Hardly a collapse; reasonable people, as Chaves described them, don’t need to disagree when the facts are this clear.

The figure is actually closer to 24%, consistent with Western European levels of attendance, which for twenty-three nations averaged over a number of years comes to 19.5%.