New Survey Shows Most Americans Say Religion’s Influence Waning
NEW YORK — The vast majority of U.S. adults say religion’s role in public life has declined — and a very large number of them are not happy about it.
A Pew Research Center report, released on Friday, revealed the stark finding that 80% of U.S. adults agree with the statement that the role of faith in everyday American life is shrinking.
The findings represent the highest number of people who believe this since Pew first asked this question. In 2002, only 52% responded that religion’s influence in the U.S. had waned.
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At the same time, nearly half — 49 percent — said religion is losing influence and “that this is a bad thing,” according to the report.
In addition, the report added, another 8% of U.S. adults think “religion’s influence is growing and that this is a good thing.”
In another twist, fewer people had a negative view of religion by saying either that its influence is shrinking is a good thing (13%) or by saying its influence is growing and this is bad (6%).
Overall, Christians (64%) were the largest group who had a positive view of religion’s role on American life. Moreover, Christians told Pew that their religious beliefs made them feel like a minority group — including 38% of Hispanic Protestants, 37% of White evangelicals and 25% each among Catholics and Black Protestants.
Here are a few other highlights from the report:
— 41% of U.S. adults said it’s best to avoid talking about religion if someone disagrees with you — up from 33% in 2019.
— 48% said there’s “a great deal” of or “some” conflict between their religious beliefs and mainstream American culture — up from 42 percent just four years ago.
— 45% said they have heard or read about Christian nationalism, including 25% who also have an unfavorable view of it and 5% who hold a favorable view. These numbers are virtually the same since since 2022.
— 72% of religiously unaffiliated adults accused conservative Christians of having gone too far in pushing religion in government and public schools. In return, 73% of conserative Christians said the same about secular progressives.
Biden-Trump race
The survey also found that half of U.S. adults say it’s “very” or “somewhat” important to them to have a president who has strong religious beliefs — even when those beliefs are different from the ones they hold.
This comes after President Biden and Donald Trump both clinched their respective parties’ presidential nominations on Tuesday, setting up a 2016 general election rematch.
At the same time, the Pew survey found that “relatively few Americans view either of the leading presidential candidates as very religious” — 13% of Americans say they think Biden is very religious; a paltry 4 percent say the same about Trump.
Almost all Americans (94% ) told Pew that it is “very” or “somewhat” important to have a president who personally lives a moral and ethical life. At the same time, 48% said it’s important for the president to hold strong religious beliefs.
Though Trump voters don’t think the New York real-estate magnate is very religious himself, most Republicans and people in a variety of faith groups (like evangelicals) tend to favor the Republican Party (67% ) also think he stands up at least to some extent for people with their religious beliefs.
The Pew report came a day after another survey — one focused on evangelicals — found that a majority called themselves politically conservative. Only 24% labeled themselves moderates, while another 12% said they were politically progressive.
On the other side of the political spectrum, 60% of Democrats — along with a majority of Jews and Black Protestants — said Biden is a candidate who stands up for people who share their religious beliefs.
The Pew survey polled 12,693 adults from Feb. 13-25.
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.