Iowa Pagan Census - www.IowaPaganCensus.org
The IPC has begun. Please read through the following information before selecting the link at the bottom.
What is the IPC?
The Iowa Pagan Census is an attempt to determine approximate Pagan population in the state, as well as to determine Iowa Pagan population demographics.
Am I a Pagan?
We are looking for people who self-identify as Pagans. If you consider yourself to be one, please fill this out. If you aren't sure what a Pagan is, there are plenty of definitions available. Most definitions state that a Pagan is one who is not an atheist or agnostic, nor a member of Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. Wikipedia has a few definitions as well.(will open in a new window)
Why are you doing this?
A friend and I were trying to figure out how many Pagans we knew in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area and we came up with close to 200. This surprised us both. Since I apparently know a ton of Pagans in this area and have connections to them all over the state, I figured that I would attempt to get some sort of semi-reliable estimate of population.
Are you a Pagan?
Yes, I have been Pagan for around 15 years and have been active in the Pagan community for over 10 years. In fact, I have had this Pagan Angelfire.com website since 1995. I am a member of the Iowa Pagan Access Network and the Cedar Rapids Pagan Community among many other groups. I also teach Pagan classes at the Wishing Realm in Cedar Rapids as well as teaching classes at Pagan events all over the midwest.
What happens to the information I submit? Will it be shared?
The information which you submit will absolutely not be shared with anyone. A submitted form is entered into a database and then a paper copy is stored in a secure file cabinet, to which only one person has access. Should there be an overwhelming number of census forms returned, I may allow one or two trusted Pagan friends interpret the data to help me, but they will not see names. As of now, this is not the case. I have successfully handled 100 forms submitted in a month by myself with no issues. No non-Pagans will ever see your form unless you show them yourself. The database will be used to determine general trends and populations. No names or other information that could lead to the identification of any individuals will ever be publically disclosed.
Will I be contacted as a result of filling out the census?
No, you will not be contacted, nor will your information be given to third parties, nor will you be placed on any mailing lists. I do not even ask for email address, phone number, or street address as I have no need for them, because I do not contact people.
Why do you ask for each of these specific bits of information?
Most of the information we request is to help me be certain that I do not have multiple records for a single individual, because I do not want to count a single person more than once.
Full Legal Name - We ask for your full legal name solely to make sure that we do not have duplicate records. If I personally know you, it also lets me know not to bug you about taking the census after you have done so. We do not ask for "craft name" or "religious name" because not everyone has one and we do not want to worry about anyone submitting a record for each of their names. Additionally, studies have shown that when people have to give their names, their answers tend to be more accurate, even in cases like this where nobody but me sees the names. I tried to come up with some other method to use, but all presented just as many as, if not more than, using legal name.
Sex - It has been suggested that there are as many as three or four times as many female Pagans as male Pagans. I want to see if this is true in Iowa. Sex may also be used to determine other demographic info, such as determining the average age of Pagan males vs. Pagan females, determining which sex is most openly Pagan, etc.
Race - I ask for your race so that we can compare race ratios among the Iowa Pagan Community to Race ratios in the general population of Iowa. Do not worry about being identified by it. If you are the only black person in a small town in Iowa, you need not worry that we release that information and therefor "out" you as a Pagan. We're only looking for general demographics, not specific cases.
Marital Status - I ask for marital status so that we can determine things such as the percentage of Pagans who are unmarried and use it to determine other demographic information.
Sexual Orientation - I ask for sexual orientation to determine what percentage of Pagans fit into each sexual orientation category, as well as to determine other demographic information, such as if homosexual Pagans are more likely to practice a particular Pagan religion.
Level of Education - I ask for the highest level of education that you have achieved so that we can determine if Pagans have more or less formal education than the general public, if Pagans with advanced degrees differ in voting patterns or religious practices from those this less formal education, etc.
Month & Year of Birth - I ask for birth month and year to prevent duplicate records, as well as to prevent us from throwing out the records of Joe Pagan or Joe Pagan Jr. because we mistakenly believe them to be the same person. I may also look for specific trends regarding age or birth month.
Location of Birth - I ask for location of birth to determine what percentage of Pagans are native Iowans, what percentage are immigrants, etc.
Religion - I ask for your religion and your parents' religion so that I can categorise Pagans and determine how many are from Pagan families. Please use terms such as "Alexandrian Wiccan" rather than simply "Alexandrian" to prevent confusion.
How Long You Have Been Pagan - I want to know what percentage of Pagans in Iowa are new to faith, as well as how many have been Pagan for years. Since I have year of birth data, I can also determine if you have been Pagan your entire life or for a small part of it.
How You Practice Your Religion - I ask for how you practice to determine how many people are solitary practitioners, how many practice in groups, etc. I also use this information to determine if followers of certain Pagan religions are more likely to practice a certain way.
Who Knows That You Are Pagan - I ask for this information so that we can determine just how openly Pagan people are. Hopefully, another Iowa Pagan Census will be completed in the future and I will be able to determine if Pagans are more or less open about their faith in the future than they are now.
Discrimination - I ask if you have been discriminated against because you were Pagan to determine how widespread discrimination against Pagans is in Iowa.
Zip code - I ask for zip code because some population density charting software uses it. I am not sure if I will end up using this, but if I do, I will need zip code. Additionally, I may determine stats such as average number of Pagans per zip code or such.
County & City - I ask for county & city because we are attempting to determine where in Iowa Pagans are found. No individual data will be given out, so one need not worry that other people are going to find out that they are a Pagan.
Voter registration status - I ask for this information to determine if Pagans are more likely or less likely to vote than the average person, as well as whether or not Pagans hold any significant proportion of voters in an individual county, of which elected officials should take note.
Political Party - I ask for this information to determine if Pagans in Iowa have a particular political leaning as well as to compare rates of major party and third party membership to the general population.
Length of time in Iowa & Length of time intending to stay - This is to help differentiate between long term and short term residents
Relationships - I am curious to see how many Pagans are romantically involved with other Pagans as well as how many are involved with non-Pagans.
Children under 18 - I have opted to not survey those under the age of 18 years, but I am curious as to how many Iowa Pagans have children and approximately how many. We will not get an exact number, because multiple parents may enter the same children, but we will have a range of approximately 1/2 the number we receive to the number of children we receive. ( 1/2n < x < n ) where n = the total number of children submitted to this census and x = the total number of children our census-takers have. (While there may be a few poly parenting situations out there, there are also single parents, so 1/2 should be a valid for our purposes)
Does it cost any money to take the census
No, taking the census is free. I am attempting to limit the costs to myself by allowing Pagan groups to make most of their own paper copies of the census and by encouraging people to take it online. If you would like to make a donation, you may obtain information on making a donation by clicking here, but you are under no obligation to do so. Donations will allow me to mail out more census forms to Pagan groups and possibly pay for web advertising.
Take the Census
You may take this census on paper and submit it by mail (It will soon be available in pdf and plain-text formats for you to print) or you may take the census online by clicking here. It is easiest for me to process the web form, so if you can do this, please do so. Please only submit one census form per person, but please tell all of your Pagan friends in Iowa about the census.
Take census online via web form
Download in MSWord Format
Return to the main census page
For more information, send email to geoff @ avalon. net
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