WASHINGTON – A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center highlights that the consistent decline in the number of Americans identifying as Christians seems to be stabilizing. According to the new Religious Landscape Study, 62% of American adults identify as Christian, which is a noticeable decrease from 2007 when 78% claimed the faith. However, since 2019, the percentage has remained relatively constant.
Interestingly, the surge in the religiously unaffiliated population, commonly referred to as the “nones,” appears to have plateaued, as noted by Pew. These include those who identify as atheist (5%), agnostic (6%), or choosing “nothing in particular” (19%), making up 29% of U.S. adults.
“It’s notable to witness this recent phase of stability in American religion after enduring a long phase of decline,” remarked Gregory Smith, a co-author of the study. “However, the question remains whether these short-term stability signs will translate into a more enduring change in the country’s religious trajectory.”
Despite these changing religious affiliations, the U.S. continues to portray a largely spiritual outlook. An overwhelming 83% believe in God or a universal spirit, while 86% embrace the belief in a soul or spirit. Furthermore, around 70% of Americans believe in concepts like heaven, hell, or both.
Young adults display less religiosity compared to older generations, indicating potential future religious decline. The study found a notable age gap: only 46% of the youngest adults claim Christianity compared to 80% of the oldest Americans. Moreover, young adults are far more prone to being religiously unaffiliated than their elder counterparts.
Such generational differences fuel the long-term decline in religious adherence, explains Smith. As highly religious seniors pass on, their places are taken by younger, less religious generations.
Analyzing religiosity shifts over lifetimes, Michele Margolis from the University of Pennsylvania noted that young adults often move away from formal religious practices, but this can change upon marriage and parenthood, when religion could regain significance in their lives.
The overarching decline in religious practice from 2007 to 2024 per Pew’s studies does not indicate a bounce back in religious adherence among aging individuals. Smith indicated a necessity for a change—either through adults growing more religious with age or through incoming generations showing more religiosity than their forerunners—to halt the declining trend.
Additionally, the intertwining of partisan politics and religious identity reveals intricate dynamics. The diminishment of Christianity and rise of “nones” spans across various sects, genders, races, and regions, but is predominantly pronounced among political liberals. A majority of 51% of liberals now report no religious affiliation—a 24-point rise since 2007.
Penny Edgell from the University of Minnesota noted that these religious-political patterns often reflect attitudes towards traditional gender and family structures. However, it’s noteworthy that Black Americans defy assumptions equating Democratic alignment with lower religiosity, as a significant percentage still maintain strong religious affiliations.
Pew’s survey reveals that about seven in 10 Black Protestants regard religion as highly important, comparable to evangelical Christians and Latter-day Saints, yet they predominantly identify as Democrats.
As the Pew survey examines various religious demographics, it emerges that the majority of immigrants to the U.S. identify as Christians (58%), while approximately 25% claim no religious affiliation. Another finding reveals a growth in non-Christian religions, although constituting a smaller share of the population at 7%.
Within the Christian demographic, 40% identify as Protestant and 19% as Catholic. The remaining 3% encompasses Latter-day Saints, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, among other groups.
The Pew study underscores that the Southern Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church remain the largest Protestant denominations, despite both seeing membership declines since 2007.
Between July 2023 and March 2024, Pew conducted this Religious Landscape Study among a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in both English and Spanish. The survey results contain a margin of error of plus or minus 0.8 percentage points.
