Cheerful Charlie
Contributor
November 3, 2015
U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious
Modest Drop in Overall Rates of Belief and Practice, but Religiously Affiliated Americans Are as Observant as Before
Is the American public becoming less religious? Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person. An extensive new survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults finds that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years.
But the Pew Research Center study also finds a great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape. The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the “nones” – the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the Millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith. Among the roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults who do claim a religion, there has been no discernible drop in most measures of religious commitment. Indeed, by some conventional measures, religiously affiliated Americans are, on average, even more devout than they were a few years ago.
The 2014 Religious Landscape Study is a follow-up to an equally extensive survey on religion in America, conducted in 2007. An initial report on the findings from the 2014 study, released in May 2015, described the changing size and demographic characteristics of the nation’s major religious groups. This report focuses on Americans’ religious beliefs and practices and assesses how they have changed in recent years.
The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.1 The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.
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I note that disbelief in God is up to 11% which agrees with recent surveys from Gallup. Google Pew for more. Apparently there is also a big political divide among Democrats and Republicans.
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Fewer than two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify with any branch of Christianity, down 11 percentage points since 2007. Meanwhile, nearly three-in-ten Democrats say they have no religion, up 9 points in recent years. Religious “nones” now constitute the single largest religious category in the Democratic coalition. As recently as 2007, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants and Catholics were each about as numerous as – or more numerous than – the religiously unaffiliated among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.
Religious “nones” also are growing within the Republican coalition, but they are doing so at a slower rate; 14% of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults now say they have no religious affiliation, up modestly from 10% in 2007. More than eight-in-ten Republicans continue to identify with Christianity, including nearly four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning adults who identify with evangelical Protestant denominations.
While the religious “nones” are growing within the population as a whole and especially among Democrats, their potential political impact is mitigated by comparatively low levels of engagement in the political process. About seven-in-ten adults who identify with a religion (71%) say they are sure they are registered to vote, but just 62% of religious “nones” say the same. And exit polls show that as a share of the electorate, religious “nones” are growing very slowly. In the 2012 presidential election, for instance, 12% of voters identified themselves as religiously unaffiliated, which was identical to the share in 2008 and only slightly higher than the shares in 2004 (10%) and 2000 (9%).
U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious
Modest Drop in Overall Rates of Belief and Practice, but Religiously Affiliated Americans Are as Observant as Before
Is the American public becoming less religious? Yes, at least by some key measures of what it means to be a religious person. An extensive new survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults finds that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years.
But the Pew Research Center study also finds a great deal of stability in the U.S. religious landscape. The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the “nones” – the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the Millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith. Among the roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults who do claim a religion, there has been no discernible drop in most measures of religious commitment. Indeed, by some conventional measures, religiously affiliated Americans are, on average, even more devout than they were a few years ago.
The 2014 Religious Landscape Study is a follow-up to an equally extensive survey on religion in America, conducted in 2007. An initial report on the findings from the 2014 study, released in May 2015, described the changing size and demographic characteristics of the nation’s major religious groups. This report focuses on Americans’ religious beliefs and practices and assesses how they have changed in recent years.
The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.1 The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.
---
I note that disbelief in God is up to 11% which agrees with recent surveys from Gallup. Google Pew for more. Apparently there is also a big political divide among Democrats and Republicans.
----
Fewer than two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify with any branch of Christianity, down 11 percentage points since 2007. Meanwhile, nearly three-in-ten Democrats say they have no religion, up 9 points in recent years. Religious “nones” now constitute the single largest religious category in the Democratic coalition. As recently as 2007, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants and Catholics were each about as numerous as – or more numerous than – the religiously unaffiliated among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.
Religious “nones” also are growing within the Republican coalition, but they are doing so at a slower rate; 14% of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults now say they have no religious affiliation, up modestly from 10% in 2007. More than eight-in-ten Republicans continue to identify with Christianity, including nearly four-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning adults who identify with evangelical Protestant denominations.
While the religious “nones” are growing within the population as a whole and especially among Democrats, their potential political impact is mitigated by comparatively low levels of engagement in the political process. About seven-in-ten adults who identify with a religion (71%) say they are sure they are registered to vote, but just 62% of religious “nones” say the same. And exit polls show that as a share of the electorate, religious “nones” are growing very slowly. In the 2012 presidential election, for instance, 12% of voters identified themselves as religiously unaffiliated, which was identical to the share in 2008 and only slightly higher than the shares in 2004 (10%) and 2000 (9%).
