Social scientists have long found women tend to be more religious than men

For decades, one of the most consistent findings in religion research has been that women tend to be more religious than men . This holds true across dozens of countries and on nearly every measure of religiosity , from how often someone prays to how important faith is in their lives.

Social scientists have struggled to pinpoint a universal cause for this pattern. Theories run the gamut – from the claim that it has something to do with women being more risk averse to the argument that religion offers women support for social responsibilities around birth, death and raising children.

In the past few years, however, survey data in the U.S. has started to tell a different story. Today, there is less empirical evidence that women are more religious than men – a debate I’ve tracked closely as