Roughly 20% of the USA will be at church this Sunday. In other countries it might be lower (e.g. about 10% of Australians will be at church this Sunday) but in western nations a general rule of thumb is that each week more people will be at church than will watch a game of professional sport live.
What you are probably seeing is not really a filter bubble, but the personalisation of religion that's happened over the last generation or so. One of the Baptist distinctives ("religion is your own personal choice -- it's not dictated by your country or your community!") has become completely in-grained in our thinking. So religion just doesn't get discussed in public forums any more.
As a fun exercise: ask 20 work colleagues (or fellow students or other random sample) about their religion. You'll be surprised at what you find, and it could lead to some of the most interesting conversations you'll have this year.
> Roughly 20% of the USA will be at church this Sunday. ... a general rule of thumb is that each week more people will be at church than will watch a game of professional sport live.
Interesting comparison: they are also mass participatory activities of the sort described in the article, with scope for discussion during (sport) and after (!!) in the case of religion. Quite different from watching at home.
I went to a professional game this year and realised that it was the 8th one I'd attended (never watched one on TV). Now looking back I've probably attended about the same number (less than a dozen) formal abrahamic services my entire life as well (weddings, funerals, services, bar mitzvah). I'm 54; my parents, in their 80s, are probably at about the same number -- perhaps a few more funerals in recent years. Apart from one "crazy aunt" in India who would drag me along to the temple when we'd visit I pretty much don't know any people who profess to be attendees. Note I've always lived in low-religion regions of low-religion countries (Australia, Germany, USA and France) so it could be a self-selection issue.
> ... personalisation of religion ... has become completely in-grained in our thinking. So religion just doesn't get discussed in public forums any more.
It's interesting; I know the desire for this state of affairs runs prominently through the writing of most of the US government's founders and it seems like a good republican (i.e. non-arisocracy/monarchy ideal). But I can believe something could have been lost in the process. It seems like the only mass participatory activity Americans have in common any more is the useless TSA rituals :-(.
What you are probably seeing is not really a filter bubble, but the personalisation of religion that's happened over the last generation or so. One of the Baptist distinctives ("religion is your own personal choice -- it's not dictated by your country or your community!") has become completely in-grained in our thinking. So religion just doesn't get discussed in public forums any more.
As a fun exercise: ask 20 work colleagues (or fellow students or other random sample) about their religion. You'll be surprised at what you find, and it could lead to some of the most interesting conversations you'll have this year.