Religion remains important in US despite increasing ‘churn’
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The US has an unusual religious landscape. Compared to many countries, religion in America is very diverse, reflecting multiple different religions and a wide range of traditions, interpretations and practices within those religions. A recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute shed new light on the role of religion in American life.
The institute’s report, “Religious Change in America,” was released in late March and draws on surveys conducted in 2023, as well as previous polling. The report finds that about three-quarters of Americans identify with a “faith tradition” and 67 percent of Americans identify as Christian.
“Religious churning,” as the report calls it, is more common in the US than in many countries. Several aspects of American culture and history have facilitated Americans’ ability to pick and choose religious identities and practices. Conversion between major religions is uncommon but Americans can easily choose to move between different religious practices, such as moving from Catholicism to mainline Protestantism or from mainline Protestantism to evangelical forms of Christianity.
Today, the biggest element of religious churn comes from people disaffiliating from a religious identity — in other words, leaving a faith tradition, typically one in which they grew up, and choosing no religion. The report divides this unaffiliated cohort into “nothing in particular,” “atheist” and “agnostic.” In the survey, the “nothing in particular” group is easily the largest of the three. The report finds that the unaffiliated cohort is the only “major religious category experiencing growth.” Indeed, 26 percent of Americans identified as unaffiliated in 2023, compared to 21 percent in 2013. According to the 2023 survey, Catholicism had the highest rate of loss, followed by white mainline Protestantism.
Despite some decline, Christianity remains the majority religion in the US. The Public Religion Research Institute survey found that 14 percent of Americans are white evangelical Protestants, 14 percent are white mainline Protestants, 12 percent are white Catholics, 8 percent are Black Protestants and 8 percent are Hispanic Catholics. Smaller percentages belong to a range of other Christian identities. Two percent of Americans are Jewish and the followers of other religions — including Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus — make up less than 1 percent each.
Although Americans increasingly moving away from religious affiliation is a well-established trend, religion continues to play a major role in American society and politics. A slight majority, 53 percent, of Americans said that religion is either the most important or one of the most important things in life; that represents a notable decline in religious priorities compared to 2013 but remains a majority of the population. Thirty-one percent of Americans attend religious services on a regular basis. Regular prayer is part of life for around half of Americans.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that combining religion and politics has led some Americans to feel disillusionment with both.
Kerry Boyd Anderson
Religion plays a significant role in society in many ways. In particular, its role in partisan politics appears to be growing. The 2023 survey found that Democrats and independent voters were much more likely to be unaffiliated with a religion than Republicans. The survey also found that 22 percent of Republicans said that religion is “the most important thing in their lives,” compared to 12 percent of independents and 11 percent of Democrats. Other studies have found that Republicans are more likely to identify as Christian and as religious than Democrats, while religion plays a bigger part in Republican political rhetoric and right-leaning media than in Democratic rhetoric and left-leaning media.
However, despite the partisan gap, the Public Religion Research Institute survey found that Republicans are not immune to the trend of declining religiosity. For example, the percentage of Republicans, Democrats and independents who said that religion is the most important thing in their lives dropped substantially from 2013 to 2023; among Republicans, 35 percent said religion was their top priority in 2013, compared to 22 percent a decade later.
Multiple studies have demonstrated that combining religion and politics has led some Americans to feel disillusionment with both. The poll found that 20 percent of Americans who left their childhood religion cited too much focus on politics in their church or religious institution as a reason for their departure. However, frustration with politics was well behind other reasons for leaving the religion in which they were raised. More people cited a loss of belief in their religion’s teachings, negative teachings on certain subjects, a lack of religious devotion in their family, a sense that the religion was bad for their mental health and sex abuse scandals among clergy as reasons for leaving their childhood faith.
The US has a long tradition of freedom of religion combined with a history of immigrants from a wide variety of Christian traditions, as well as other religions, moving to the country. This history has facilitated religious reinterpretation, the development of new faith traditions and significant levels of religious churning. Today, Americans are increasingly leaving religion, but religion continues to play a major role in American life and politics.
• Kerry Boyd Anderson is a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk.
X: @KBAresearch
Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News’ point of view
