{"id":72228,"date":"2015-11-03T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T05:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2015\/11\/03\/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T23:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T03:58:36","slug":"u-s-public-becoming-less-religious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2015\/11\/03\/u-s-public-becoming-less-religious\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the latest data from the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) on Americans’ religious identities, beliefs and practices, read our report \u201c<\/em>Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off<\/em><\/a>\u201d and visit the interactive database \u201c<\/em>Religious Landscape Study<\/em><\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cnones\u201d \u2013 the growing minority<\/a> 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<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2014 Religious Landscape Study is a follow-up to an equally extensive survey on religion in America, conducted in 2007. An initial report<\/a> on the findings from the 2014 study, released in May 2015, described the changing size and demographic characteristics of the nation\u2019s major religious groups. This report focuses on Americans\u2019 religious beliefs and practices and assesses how they have changed in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. For a comparison of rates of belief in God in the U.S. and other countries, see Smith, Tom W. 2012. \u201cBeliefs About God Across Time and Countries.<\/a>\u201d NORC at the University of Chicago.] The share of Americans who say they are \u201cabsolutely certain\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The falloff in traditional religious beliefs and practices coincides with changes in the religious composition of the U.S. public. A growing share of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, including some who self-identify as atheists or agnostics as well as many who describe their religion as \u201cnothing in particular.\u201d Altogether, the religiously unaffiliated (also called the \u201cnones\u201d) now account for 23% of the adult population, up from 16% in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pew Research Center surveys consistently show that not all religious \u201cnones\u201d are nonbelievers. In fact, the majority of Americans without a religious affiliation say they believe in God. As a group, however, the \u201cnones\u201d are far less religiously observant than Americans who identify with a specific faith. And, as the \u201cnones\u201d have grown in size, they also have become even less<\/em> observant than they were when the original Religious Landscape Study was conducted in 2007. The growth of the \u201cnones\u201d as a share of the population, coupled with their declining levels of religious observance, is tugging down the nation\u2019s overall rates of religious belief and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the vast majority of Americans (77% of all adults) continue to identify with some religious faith. And this religiously affiliated population \u2013 comprising a wide variety of Protestants as well as Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and adherents of other faith traditions \u2013 is, on the whole, just as religiously committed today as when the study was first conducted in 2007. Fully two-thirds of religiously affiliated adults say they pray every day and that religion is very important to them, and roughly six-in-ten say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month; those numbers have changed little, if at all, in recent years. And nearly all religiously affiliated people in the survey (97%) continue to believe in God, though a declining share express this belief with absolute certainty (74% in 2014, down from 79% in 2007).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Growing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, by some measures, religiously affiliated people appear to have grown more<\/em> religiously observant in recent years. The portion of religiously affiliated adults who say they regularly read scripture, share their faith with others and participate in small prayer groups or scripture study groups all have increased modestly since 2007. And roughly four-in-ten religiously affiliated adults (41%) now say they rely mainly on their religious beliefs for guidance on questions about right and wrong, up 7 percentage points in seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also suggests that in some ways Americans are becoming more spiritual. About six-in-ten adults now say they regularly feel a deep sense of \u201cspiritual peace and well-being,\u201d up 7 percentage points since 2007. And 46% of Americans say they experience a deep sense of \u201cwonder about the universe\u201d at least once a week, also up 7 points over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are among the key findings of Pew Research Center\u2019s 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study. The latest survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 35,071 adults interviewed by telephone, on both cellphones and landlines, from June 4-Sept. 30, 2014. Findings based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 0.6 percentage points. (For a table of margins of error for sub-groups, as well as other methodological details, see Appendix A.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted above, this is the second report on the results of the 2014 Religious Landscape Study. The first report<\/a>, published in May 2015, focused on the changing religious composition of the U.S. public. It documented the continued, rapid growth of the religiously unaffiliated population and described the importance of generational replacement in driving the rise of the \u201cnones.\u201d As older cohorts of adults (comprised mainly of self-identified Christians) pass away, they are being replaced by a new cohort of young adults who display far lower levels of attachment to organized religion than their parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 generations did when they were the same age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same dynamic helps explain the declines in traditional measures of religious belief and practice. Millennials \u2013 especially the youngest Millennials, who have entered adulthood since the first Landscape Study was conducted \u2013 are far less religious than their elders. For example, only 27% of Millennials say they attend religious services on a weekly basis, compared with 51% of adults in the Silent generation. Four-in-ten of the youngest Millennials say they pray every day, compared with six-in-ten Baby Boomers and two-thirds of members of the Silent generation. Only about half of Millennials say they believe in God with absolute certainty, compared with seven-in-ten Americans in the Silent and Baby Boom cohorts. And only about four-in-ten Millennials say religion is very important in their lives, compared with more than half in the older generational cohorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"In<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Almost<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to exploring religious beliefs and practices, the new Religious Landscape Study includes questions about Americans\u2019 social and political values. In some ways, the basic patterns in religion and politics in the United States remain unchanged. Some religious groups (including evangelical Protestants and Mormons) are generally supportive of the Republican Party, while other groups (including Jews, religious \u201cnones,\u201d Hispanic Catholics and members of churches that belong to the historically black Protestant tradition) tend to be more Democratic in their partisan allegiances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while there is much continuity in the relationship of religion and politics in the U.S., not everything is fixed in stone. The Landscape Study shows, for example, that nearly all major religious groups have become significantly more accepting of homosexuality in recent years \u2013 even groups, such as evangelicals and Mormons, that traditionally have expressed strong opposition to same-sex relationships. Changing attitudes about homosexuality are linked to the same generational forces helping to reshape religious identity and practice in the United States, with Millennials expressing far more acceptance of homosexuality than older adults do. Fully half of Millennials who identify as evangelical Protestants, for instance, now say homosexuality should be accepted by society.[2. Generational replacement is not the only<\/em> factor that helps explain the nation\u2019s changing views about homosexuality. While it is true that young adults are more accepting of homosexuality than are older adults, it is also true that older adults have become more accepting of homosexuality over time. See Pew Research Center\u2019s \u201cChanging Attitudes on Gay Marriage.<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study also shows that the growth of the \u201cnones\u201d is having a particularly pronounced impact on the Democratic Party coalition. In fact, religious \u201cnones\u201d are now more numerous among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults than are Catholics, evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants or members of the historically black Protestant tradition. The religiously unaffiliated also are growing within the GOP, though not as quickly, and they remain far outnumbered by evangelicals and less numerous than Catholics or mainline Protestants within the Republican coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Religious<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Evangelicals<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The remainder of this Overview explores in greater depth the religious changes that are underway in the American public. It describes how the stability of religious practice among the shrinking share of the population that is religiously affiliated, coupled with declining rates of religious observance among the growing minority of religious \u201cnones,\u201d is producing overall declines in several key measures of religious practice. It explains the importance of generational replacement \u2013 the gradual supplanting of older generations by newer ones \u2013 in driving these trends. The Overview also highlights an increase in the share of Americans who say they regularly have certain spiritual experiences, describes the public\u2019s views of religious institutions and briefly summarizes several key findings about the connection between religion and politics. Subsequent sections of the report provide additional information on all of these topics, with full details on the beliefs, practices and attitudes of many of the diverse religious groups that populate the U.S. religious landscape. And Appendix B includes a description of how the findings from the Religious Landscape Study compare with other major religion surveys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trends in Religious Beliefs and Practices<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The new Religious Landscape Study shows that most people who identify with a religion ascribe a high level of importance to their personal faith and say they participate in religious activities on at least an occasional basis. In several important respects, the religiously affiliated are just as highly observant and engaged with their respective faith traditions today as they were when the Landscape Study was first conducted in 2007. While much is changing in American religious life, the level of religious observance exhibited by those who identify with a religion is, by and large, stable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Relatively<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, two-thirds of religiously affiliated adults say religion is very important in their lives. One-quarter say religion is \u201csomewhat\u201d important in their lives, and about one-in-ten say religion is \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important to them (9%). These shares are little changed from 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The amount of importance people attach to religion varies considerably depending on the religious tradition to which they belong.[3. Keeping in mind the relative size of religious groups can be helpful for understanding trends in the population as a whole. About seven-in-ten Americans (71%) are self-identified Christians, while far fewer (6%) identify with non-Christian faiths. As a result, relatively modest changes among Christians can have a pronounced impact on measures of the religious beliefs and practices of the population as a whole, while large changes among non-Christian faiths often have a negligible impact on statistics for the full population. Similarly, the four largest Christian groups \u2013 evangelical Protestants (25% of all adults), Catholics (21%), mainline Protestants (15%) and the historically black Protestant tradition (6%) \u2013 will have a larger impact on trends in the overall Christian estimates than will the smaller Christian groups; Orthodox Christians, Mormons, Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses and the \u201cother Christian\u201d category each account for less than 2% of the U.S. adult population. Full details on the religious composition of the U.S. are available in the first report on the 2014 Religious Landscape Study\u2019s findings, \u201cAmerica’s Changing Religious Landscape.<\/a>\u201d] Large majorities (roughly eight-in-ten or more) of evangelical Protestants, as well as Protestants who belong to churches that are part of the historically black Protestant tradition, Mormons and Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, while roughly six-in-ten or fewer mainline Protestants and Catholics say the same.[4. In this and other reports on findings from the Religious Landscape Study, Protestants are grouped into one of three traditions (the evangelical Protestant tradition, the mainline Protestant tradition or the historically black Protestant tradition) mainly on the basis of the specific denomination they identify with. Those who identify with the Southern Baptist Convention, for example, are included in the evangelical tradition. Respondents who identify with the American Baptist Churches in the USA are assigned to the mainline Protestant tradition. People who identify with the National Baptist Convention are categorized as part of the historically black Protestant tradition. Full details on how Protestant denominations were assigned to one of the three major Protestant traditions are available in Appendix B<\/a> of the first report on the Religious Landscape Study\u2019s findings, \u201cAmerica’s Changing Religious Landscape<\/a>.\u201d] But across most religious traditions, and among the religiously affiliated group as a whole, there has been little change in the importance people attach to religion\u2019s place in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, there has been little change in the share of religiously affiliated adults who say they pray regularly. And while there has been a bit of fluctuation in self-reported rates of attendance at religious services among some religious groups (e.g., among members of the historically black Protestant tradition), the overall picture here also is one of continuity rather than change; generally speaking, there has been little movement in the share of religiously affiliated adults who say they attend religious services regularly.[5. Surveys that ask respondents how often they attend religious services typically obtain higher estimates of rates of weekly attendance than other, more indirect methods of data collection (such as asking respondents to keep a diary of how they spend their days, without specific reference to attendance at worship services). When prompted by a survey question to report how often they attend religious services, respondents who say they attend every week may be indicating that they see themselves as the kind of people who regularly go to services, rather than that they never miss a week of church. For a discussion of differences between self-reported attendance and actual attendance rates, see Brenner, Philip S. 2011. \u201cExceptional Behavior or Exceptional Identity? Overreporting of Church Attendance in the U.S.\u201d Public Opinion Quarterly. Though this body of research suggests that attendance measures from surveys may not necessarily be the best gauge of the share of people who attend services in any given week, knowing whether respondents think of themselves as regular churchgoers is nevertheless very important because this measure of religious commitment often is correlated with other religious beliefs and practices, as well as with social and political attitudes. In addition to the over-reporting of church attendance that arises from asking respondents directly how often they attend religious services, readers should bear in mind that telephone opinion surveys can produce overestimates of religious attendance due to high rates of nonresponse. See, for example, Pew Research Center\u2019s 2012 report \u201cAssessing the Representativeness of Public Opinion Surveys<\/a>\u201d and Pew Research Center\u2019s July 21, 2015, Fact Tank post \u201cThe Challenges of Polling When Fewer People Are Available to be Polled<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The survey shows, furthermore, that some indicators of religious practice have ticked upward<\/em> slightly among the religiously affiliated. For example, 26% of religiously affiliated adults now say they share their faith with nonbelievers or people from other religious backgrounds at least once a week, up from 23% in 2007. More than four-in-ten religiously affiliated adults (43%) now say they read scripture outside of religious services at least once a week, up 3 percentage points since 2007. And fully three-in-ten religiously affiliated adults now say they participate in prayer groups or scripture study groups on a weekly basis, also up 3 points since 2007. The increasing share of religiously affiliated adults who read scripture and participate in small-group religious activities has helped hold steady the percentage of the overall population who engage in these practices despite the rapid growth of the religious \u201cnones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Growing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unaffiliated Have Grown Less Religious<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While stability is perhaps the best single word to sum up the Landscape Study\u2019s findings about the religious beliefs and practices of religiously affiliated Americans, the trends among the religiously unaffiliated segment of the population look more like secularization. Not only have the unaffiliated grown in size, they also have become less<\/em> religious over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, the share of religious \u201cnones\u201d who say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives has declined by 3 percentage points in recent years, and the share saying religion is \u201csomewhat\u201d important in their lives has declined by 4 points. Meanwhile, the share of religiously unaffiliated adults who say religion is either \u201cnot too important\u201d or \u201cnot at all important\u201d to them has grown by 8 percentage points since 2007. Roughly two-thirds of the \u201cnones\u201d now say religion is of little importance in their lives, up from 57% in 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the Religious Landscape Study finds that 62% of religious \u201cnones\u201d now say they \u201cseldom\u201d or \u201cnever\u201d pray, a 6-point increase since 2007. And while there has been little change in the rate at which \u201cnones\u201d report attending religious services (few did this more than a few times a year to begin with), the proportion of \u201cnones\u201d who say they do not<\/em> believe in God has grown rapidly in recent years. Fully one-third of religiously unaffiliated adults now say they do not believe in God, up 11 points since 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Among<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a result of these two trends \u2013 growth and<\/em> secularization among the religiously unaffiliated \u2013 the share<\/em> of Americans who exhibit high religious commitment is declining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, the share of Americans saying religion is \u201cvery\u201d or \u201csomewhat\u201d important in their lives has declined, while the share saying religion is \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important to them has grown by 5 percentage points. There has been a modest decline in the share of adults who say they pray at least monthly, while the share of people who say they seldom or never pray has increased by nearly 5 points. And about half of adults now say they attend religious services no more than a few times a year, up almost 5 points since 2007. Meanwhile, the share who report that they attend services weekly has dropped by nearly 4 points, to roughly 36%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Share<\/em> of Highly Religious People Shrinks Even as Number<\/em> of Highly Religious People Holds Steady<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Number<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These changes are happening even though the absolute number<\/em> of Americans who are highly religiously engaged has not changed very much. In other words, the United States is growing less religious (in percentage terms) not because there are fewer highly religious people but rather because, as the overall U.S. population has grown, there are now many more nonreligious people than was the case just a few years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One way to illustrate this dynamic is to use the survey\u2019s findings to produce estimates of the number of Americans who exhibit a particular religious characteristic. In 2007, for instance, there were 227.2 million adults in the U.S., and 83.1% of them \u2013 188.8 million adults \u2013 were religiously affiliated.[6. The estimate that there were 227 million adults in the U.S. in 2007 comes from the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s National Intercensal Estimates (2000-2010)<\/a>. The estimate that there were nearly 245 million adults in the U.S. in 2014 comes from Pew Research Center extrapolations of the U.S. Census Bureau\u2019s estimates of the monthly postcensal resident population<\/a>.] Among this group, 64.5% indicated that religion was \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, meaning there were an estimated 121.8 million religiously affiliated adults for whom religion was \u201cvery important.\u201d As of 2014, the U.S. adult population swelled to 244.8 million, and 76.5% \u2013 an estimated 187.3 million people \u2013 describe themselves as religiously affiliated. Nearly two-thirds of them say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives, meaning there now are an estimated 122.7 million religiously affiliated adults for whom religion is \u201cvery important,\u201d which is about the same as in 2007.[7. Survey-based estimates of the number of people in a group are subject to sampling error in the same way that percentages are. The apparent increase (of 0.9 million) in the number of adults who are both religiously affiliated and say religion is very important in their lives is not statistically significant once the survey\u2019s margin of error is taken into account.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rapid<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the other end of the religion spectrum, there has been rapid growth in the number of unaffiliated adults who say religion is not important to them. In 2007, 16.1% of adults \u2013 36.6 million people \u2013 described themselves as religious \u201cnones.\u201d And 57.5% of them said religion was \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important in their lives, yielding an estimate that 21.0 million adults were religious \u201cnones\u201d for whom religion was personally unimportant. By 2014, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population had grown to 22.8%, and the number of religious \u201cnones\u201d had ballooned to 55.8 million. And nearly two-thirds of the \u201cnones\u201d \u2013 36.1 million adults \u2013 say religion is unimportant to them, an increase of roughly 15 million people in just seven years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data show similar patterns in questions about prayer and attendance at religious worship services. The number of religiously unaffiliated adults who say they seldom or never pray and the number who say they seldom or never attend services have grown rapidly. Meanwhile, the numbers of religiously affiliated adults who say they pray daily and attend services regularly have been comparatively stable. The result is that the percentages<\/em> of Americans who pray daily and attend religious services regularly have declined modestly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more details on the study\u2019s findings about trends in religious beliefs and practices, see Chapter 1<\/a> and Chapter 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generational Differences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Who are the largely nonreligious adults whose ranks are growing, thus reducing the percentage of Americans who exhibit strong religious commitment? They are mainly young people just entering adulthood. Older Americans \u2013 those in the Silent generation, Baby Boomers and even Generation Xers \u2013 are, by and large, about as religious today as when the Religious Landscape Study was first conducted in 2007. But these three generational cohorts constitute a shrinking share of the total U.S. population, and, as their numbers begin to dwindle, they are being replaced by a new cohort of young adults (Millennials) who are, in many ways, far less religious than their parents\u2019 and grandparents\u2019 generations.[8. For background on how Pew Research Center conducts generational research, see the 2015 report \u201cThe Whys and Hows of Generations Research<\/a>.\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, two-thirds of adults in the Silent generation say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives and that they pray every day, as do about six-in-ten Baby Boomers and more than half of Generation Xers. By comparison with older adults, Millennials exhibit far lower rates of involvement with religion. Fewer than half of older Millennials (adults now in their late 20s and early 30s) and roughly four-in-ten younger Millennials (adults now in their late teens and early 20s) say religion is very important to them and that they pray daily. And a majority of Millennials say they attend religious services a few times a year at most<\/em>. Millennials\u2019 relatively low rates of religious involvement are attributable in part to the fact that many Millennials are religious \u201cnones.\u201d However, on several of these measures, even young adults who are religiously affiliated are less observant than their older counterparts. (For more details on how the beliefs and practices of younger religiously affiliated adults compare with those of older religiously affiliated adults, see Chapter 1<\/a> and Chapter 2<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Members<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is possible, of course, that younger adults will become more religious with age. Analysis<\/a> of the General Social Survey (GSS), for instance, shows that over the long term, people pray more regularly and report attending religious services a bit more often as they get older. And Gallup surveys conducted over several decades indicate that as people age, they become more likely to say religion is an important part of their lives.[9. For more discussion of religious change through the life course, see, for example: Dillon, Michelle and Paul Wink. 2007. \u201cIn The Course Of A Lifetime: Tracing Religious Belief, Practice and Change\u201d; Stolzenberg, Ross M., Mary Blair-Loy, and Linda J. Waite. 1995. \u201cReligious Participation in Early Adulthood: Age and Family Life Cycle Effects on Church Membership.\u201d American Sociological Review; and Uecker, Jeremy E., Mark D. Regnerus, and Margaret L. Vaaler. 2007. \u201cLosing My Religion: The Social Sources of Religious Decline in Early Adulthood.\u201d Social Forces.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the Religious Landscape Study finds that, at least on some measures, there is a tendency for people to become more religious as they get older. For example, Generation Xers, Baby Boomers and those in the Silent generation all have become somewhat more inclined in recent years to say they rely mainly on their religious beliefs when thinking about questions of right and wrong; they also are more likely to say they read scripture regularly and participate in prayer groups or scripture study groups on a frequent basis. Baby Boomers and those in the Silent generation also have become more likely to say their religion is the \u201cone true faith leading to eternal life.\u201d However, older Millennials have not<\/em> become substantially more likely to participate in small-group religious activities or say they rely on religion for guidance on questions of right and wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in the seven years since the first Religious Landscape Study was conducted, no generational cohort has become more religious as measured by self-assessments of religion\u2019s importance in their lives, frequency of prayer or frequency of church attendance. Indeed, older Millennials \u2013 adults who were between the ages of 18 and 26 when the first Religious Landscape Study was conducted in 2007 and who today are in their late 20s and early 30s \u2013 are, if anything, less<\/em> religiously observant today than they were in 2007 in these important ways. The share of older Millennials who say they seldom or never attend religious services has risen by 9 percentage points. And the share of older Millennials who say they seldom or never pray has risen by 6 points, as has the share who say religion is \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Growing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rise of the \u2018Nones\u2019: Is It Just a Change in Nomenclature?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans has risen rapidly in recent years, some observers have suggested that this is merely a change in labels. There always have been people who identify with a religion but are not particularly devout or active — self-identified Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans, Jews, etc. who do not regularly pray, attend religious services or participate in other religious activities. All that has really changed \u2013 so the thinking goes \u2013 is that these nominally affiliated but largely non-practicing individuals have begun to describe themselves as religious \u201cnones,\u201d while the share of Americans who are truly observant<\/em> has not diminished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results of the Religious Landscape Study suggest that relabeling is part of what has taken place, but it is not the whole story. The religious beliefs and practices of the U.S. public as a whole also are changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relabeling.<\/strong> To be sure, the growth of the \u201cnones\u201d is concentrated among people with low or moderate levels of religious commitment. For instance, among those who say religion is \u201cnot too important\u201d or \u201cnot at all important\u201d in their lives, there has been a sharp rise in the share who identify as \u201cnones.\u201d In the past, some of these people might have claimed a religious affiliation, but they increasingly describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular when asked about their religious identity (68% in 2014, up from 57% in 2007).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Declining Religiosity.<\/strong> At the same time, the share of the population with low levels of observance (e.g., those who seldom or never pray or go to religious services, and who say religion is unimportant in their lives) has, itself, grown. And the percentage of American adults who are highly observant \u2013 at least as measured by traditional indicators, such as their certainty of belief in God, frequency of prayer, self-reported rates of attendance at worship services and self-assessments of the importance of religion in their lives \u2013 has declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generational Replacement.<\/strong> To understand what is driving religious change, it is important to recognize trends in American society as a whole, not just how individuals change over their lifetimes. Of course, some individuals grow more religious over time, while others grow less religious. And the \u201cnones\u201d may be growing in part because some people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who had only weak ties to religion are dropping any vestige of identification with the faith in which they were raised. But one of the major factors behind the growth of the \u201cnones,\u201d and the declines in traditional forms of religious observance, appears to be generational. Older generations of American adults who were overwhelmingly Christian by affiliation and comparatively devout in belief and behavior are gradually passing away. They are being replaced by a new generation of young people who are, on the whole, less inclined to identify with any branch of Christianity and more religiously unaffiliated than older cohorts ever were, even when they were young. And so far, members of the Millennial generation do not seem to be growing more religiously observant as they get older, at least by traditional measures. On the contrary, the oldest Millennials, now in their late 20s and early 30s, are generally less observant<\/a> than they were seven years ago. If these trends continue, American society is likely to grow less religious even if those who are adults today maintain their current levels of religious commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less Religious, but More Spiritual?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While several key indicators of traditional forms of religious observance are declining, the Religious Landscape Study shows that the U.S. population may be becoming more spiritual in certain ways. Roughly six-in-ten adults now say they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at least once a week, up 7 percentage points since 2007. And 46% of adults say they feel a deep sense of wonder about the universe on a weekly basis, also up sharply since 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Groups that exhibit the highest levels of traditional forms of religious observance also are most likely to say they regularly experience a sense of spiritual peace and well-being. Nearly two-thirds of religiously affiliated adults, for instance, say they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace at least once a week, compared with four-in-ten religious \u201cnones.\u201d And among the religiously affiliated, about eight-in-ten Mormons and three-quarters of those in the evangelical and historically black Protestant traditions (some of the most religiously observant groups in the U.S.) say they experience a deep sense of spiritual peace at least once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is little difference between the religiously affiliated and religious \u201cnones\u201d on the question about feelings of wonder about the universe. And the increases seen on both of the questions about spiritual experiences are demographically broad-based, having occurred among those who are religiously affiliated and religious \u201cnones,\u201d among people of all ages, among both men and women, and in all regions of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Growing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Large<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To explore other aspects of spirituality, the 2014 survey included two new questions that were not asked in the 2007 Religious Landscape Study. The first question asked respondents how often they feel a strong sense of gratitude or thankfulness. More than three-quarters of adults \u2013 including 82% of Christians \u2013 say they feel a strong sense of gratitude or thankfulness at least once a week. Large majorities of those belonging to non-Christian faiths (including 77% of Muslims, 73% of Buddhists, 70% of Jews and 62% of Hindus) also report regularly feeling a strong sense of gratitude, as do two-thirds of the religiously unaffiliated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study finds that regularly feeling a strong sense of gratitude is most common among those who are highly religiously observant. Fully 90% of those who say they attend religious services at least once a week also say they feel a deep sense of gratitude at least once a week, as do 88% of those who say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives. But gratitude also is experienced regularly by many people who are not<\/em> very religiously observant. For example, two-thirds of people who say they seldom or never attend religious services say they regularly feel a deep sense of gratitude (67%), as do 62% of those who say religion is \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to asking about feelings of gratitude, the new study also asked respondents how often they think about the meaning and purpose of life. Slightly more than half of Americans (55%) \u2013 including 59% of Christians, 53% of members of non-Christian faiths and 45% of religious \u201cnones\u201d \u2013 say they think about the meaning and purpose of life at least once a week. Regular contemplation of life\u2019s meaning is most common among those who are religiously observant in a variety of ways. For example, two-thirds of those who say religion is \u201cvery important\u201d in their lives (67%) also say they regularly think about the meaning and purpose of life, compared with 38% of those who say religion is \u201cnot too\u201d or \u201cnot at all\u201d important to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more details on the study\u2019s findings about Americans\u2019 spiritual experiences, see Chapter 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views of Religious Institutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Religious<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new study shows that most Americans continue to view organized religion as a force for good in American society. Nearly nine-in-ten adults say churches and other religious institutions bring people together and strengthen community bonds and that they play an important role in helping the poor and needy. And three-quarters say churches and other religious institutions help protect and strengthen morality in society. Attitudes on these questions are little changed from 2012<\/a>, when they were first asked in a Pew Research Center survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These views are widely held even by the religiously unaffiliated, though the survey suggests that many religious \u201cnones\u201d are ambivalent or hold conflicting views about organized religion\u2019s impact on society. In addition to saying that churches and other religious institutions perform good works, large numbers of the unaffiliated also say religious institutions are too concerned with money and power, too involved in politics and too focused on rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all of the survey\u2019s questions about religious institutions are analyzed together, they show that 42% of adults have a mostly positive view of religious institutions \u2013 that is, they agree with all three positive statements (that religious institutions strengthen community bonds, help the poor and protect morality) while agreeing with no more than one negative statement, or they agree with two positive and zero negative statements. Far fewer adults (7%) express mostly negative views about churches and other religious organizations \u2013 meaning they agree with all three negative statements (that religious institutions are too concerned with money and power, too involved in politics and too focused on rules) while agreeing with no more than one positive statement, or they agree with two negative and zero positive statements. Half of the public expresses mixed views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Views<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Americans who identify with a religion are fairly evenly divided between those who express mostly positive views of religious institutions (49%) and those who express mixed views (46%). Few religiously affiliated adults (5%) express mostly negative views of religious institutions. Most religious \u201cnones\u201d (62%) express mixed views of religious institutions, with the remainder divided between those who express mostly positive views (21%) and those who express mostly negative views (16%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more details on American views of religious institutions, see Chapter 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social and Political Values<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Changing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to exploring religious beliefs and practices, the new Religious Landscape Study also includes questions about Americans\u2019 partisan allegiances and their social and political values. The survey data show that Christians are declining and religious \u201cnones\u201d are growing within both major political parties. But the changing religious composition of the U.S. population is particularly evident among the Democratic coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cnones\u201d 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 \u2013 or more numerous than \u2013 the religiously unaffiliated among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religious \u201cnones\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the religious \u201cnones\u201d 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 \u201cnones\u201d say the same. And exit polls<\/a> show that as a share of the electorate, religious \u201cnones\u201d 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%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Views on Homosexuality and Abortion<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"Broad-Based<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The new survey also asked respondents about their views on a number of social issues, including homosexuality. The survey finds that acceptance of homosexuality is growing rapidly even among religious groups that have traditionally been strongly opposed to it. For instance, more than a third of evangelical Protestants now say homosexuality should be accepted by American society, up 10 points since 2007. And acceptance of homosexuality has jumped by 12 points among Mormons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared with views on homosexuality, there has been little change in Americans\u2019 attitudes about abortion. Among the public as a whole, slightly more than half (53%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Views on abortion have changed little across most major religious groups, although those who are unaffiliated and those who belong to historically black Protestant churches are somewhat more likely to support legal abortion than in the recent past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shifts in attitudes toward homosexuality among the largest religious groups are being driven partly by young adults, who are much more accepting of homosexuality than older Americans. Among evangelical Protestants, for example, 51% of Millennials say homosexuality should be accepted, compared with about a third of Baby Boomers and a fifth of those in the Silent generation. Similar patterns are seen among mainline Protestants, in the historically black Protestant tradition and among Catholics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Deep<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The survey also finds generation gaps within many religious groups in attitudes about a variety of other social and political issues. Young adults generally express more politically liberal opinions than older people when asked about the environment, the proper size and scope of government, and immigration. One exception to this pattern is abortion; here, generational differences within religious groups are less consistent. For example, Millennials who are evangelical Protestants are no more supportive of abortion rights than evangelicals from the Baby Boom or Silent generations, and Millennials in the mainline Protestant tradition are somewhat less <\/em>supportive of legal abortion (55%) than those in older generations. And while Catholics in the Silent generation are more opposed to legal abortion than other Catholics, there is little difference in the views of Catholic Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more details on the social and political views of religious groups, see Chapter 4<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Key Findings<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The remainder of this report provides many more details on the study\u2019s findings and on the religious beliefs and practices and social and political values of the religious groups that populate the U.S. landscape. Other key findings include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n