PEW Religious Landscape Study 2023-24
The June Commonweal Magazine issue contains a symposium centered around Christian Smith's recent book, specifically the question of whether or not Christianity has become "obsolete" in the small fashion that technology becomes obsolete.
This review addresses the issue of whether the decline of Christianity in the US might be evidence of obsolescence.
At present:
62% of U.S. adults describe themselves as Christians: 40% are Protestant, 19% are Catholic, and 3% are other Christians.
29% are religiously unaffiliated: 5% are atheist, 6% are agnostic, and 19% identify religiously as “nothing in particular.”
7% belong to religions other than Christianity: 2% are Jewish, and 1% each are Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu (all figures are rounded)
The 2023-24 RLS finds that:
44% of U.S. adults say they pray at least once a day. Though down significantly since 2007, this measure has held between 44% and 46% since 2021.
33% say they go to religious services at least once a month. Since 2020, the percentages saying this have consistently hovered in the low 30s.
And large majorities of Americans have a spiritual, supernatural outlook. For example:
86% believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body.
83% believe in God or a universal spirit.
79% believe there is something spiritual beyond the natural world.
70% believe in heaven, hell or both
But in future years we may see further declines in the religiousness of the American public, for several reasons:
Young adults are far less religious than older adults.
No recent birth cohort has become more religious as it has aged.
The “stickiness” of a religious upbringing seems to be declining: Compared with older people, fewer young adults who had a highly religious upbringing are still highly religious as adults.
The “stickiness” of a nonreligious upbringing seems to be rising
The first RLS was conducted in 2007. The second was in 2014. Other key findings from the new study include:
35% of U.S. adults have switched religions since childhood, leading to net gains for the unaffiliated population and net losses for the Christian population.
All three major strands of Protestantism have declined in percentage terms since 2007.
Evangelical Protestants now make up 23% of U.S. adults, down from 26%.
Mainline Protestants account for 11% of U.S. adults, down from 18%.
Members of historically Black Protestant churches make up 5% of U.S. adults, down from 7%.