We used data from the General Social Survey to compile this data set. Income as defined by the GSS was family income (the incomes of all those related and living in a household). All incomes are before tax and government transfer.
In order to ensure a large enough sample, data was compiled from the years 2008-2012 for both variables. The original prompt from the survey about God was: “Please look at this card and tell me which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God.”
Possible answers in the original survey were: don’t believe, no way to find out, some higher power, believe sometimes, believe but doubts and know god exists.
Help with research was provided by Dr. Tom W. Smith, Director of the General Social Survey and Senior Fellow at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Source: General Social Surveys of NORC at the University of Chicago.
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