Poll Finds Pause In The Decline Of Christianity Among US Adults

There have been several polls in recent years all pointing to a decline in Christianity among U.S. adults. Research released in April of 2023 from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University found millennials, in particular, seemed to wrestle with purpose as those who had religious affiliations steadily dropped. A few months later, the Pew Research Center shared their findings, which included a decline of Christianity that they linked to a "collapse in marriage and fatherhood."

However, Pew data released this week reflect a different trend. Rather than a decline, Christianity among U.S. adults seems to have plateaued.

Pew researchers put it this way: "After many years of steady decline, the share of Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of leveling off--at least temporarily--at slightly above six-in-10, according to a massive new Pew Research Center survey of 36,908 U.S. adults." These findings come from the Religious Landscape Study, which is "the largest single survey the Center conducts." Only three such surveys have been conducted over the last 17 years.

According to the newly released data, 62% of American adults identify as Christian. This is down from the 78% recorded in 2007, as well as the 71% in 2014's Religious Landscape Study. However, these recent numbers are "in line with totals seen in the Center's National Public Opinion Reference Survey that have been conducted since 2020." Additionally, "Americans who say they pray daily has consistently held between 44% and 46% since 2021." And the percentage of those who attend religious services monthly have stayed in the low 30s.

Of those who identify as Christian, 40% are Protestant, 19% are Catholic, and 3% include those who identify as Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As Pew pointed out, "Both Protestant and Catholic numbers are down significantly since 2007, though the Protestant share of the population has remained fairly level since 2019 and the Catholic share has been stable since 2014." The number of surveyed American adults who identify as Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu are all under 2%.

In addition to the stability among those who consider themselves Christian is the notable decline of those who consider themselves as "religiously unaffiliated." After "a long period of sustained growth," this recent polling found that the religious "nones" have "plateaued in recent years."

Pew's research also found that the youngest of those surveyed, between 18 and 24, were the most likely to be less religious. As The Post Millennial highlighted, "there was around a 20-point difference between the youngest and oldest survey takers in whether they were raised religious, with 94% of those 74 and older saying they were raised religious, while 75% of the youngest survey takers responded as such." 

And yet, roughly half of all respondents claimed religion "was very important to their family when growing up." Notably, 50% still find religion important, while 32% grew up to value it less with age.

"As someone who has followed America's religious demographics for some time," said Family Research Council's David Closson, "I am encouraged by Pew Research finding that the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has seem to have leveled off after years of precipitous decline."

Closson, who serves as Family Research Council's director of the Center for Biblical Worldview, explained to The Washington Stand that, for Christians, "the results of this study present a mixed bag. Although it is encouraging that it appears those who identify as Christian has stabilized, it is also true that younger Americans are much less likely to associate with Christianity" and religion as a whole. This means "the younger someone is the less likely they pray, read the Bible, or attend church," Closson stated.

"However," he added, "there are still some interesting trends in the data that show that America's youngest adult generation is not completely disconnected from religion." For instance, "among those belonging to Generation Z, 82% stated that they believe that people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body. 

Seventy-one percent of Gen Z also stated their belief that there is something spiritual beyond the natural world." According to Closson, "although there are some aspects of this survey that are discouraging, religious identity continues to persist in America."

"Even among the youngest demographic," he concluded, "faith in Christianity and religious affiliation still outpaces other nations that have seen even more precipitous declines."

Originally published at The Washington Stand