Why Americans are losing their religion

All About America explores American culture, politics, trends, history, ideals and places of interest.

A decades-long trend toward secularization that has come more slowly in America than in many other developed countries appears to be accelerating in the United States, according to polls and other data.

In 1965, a Gallup poll found that 70% of respondents said religion was “very important” in their lives. Today, fewer than half of Americans (45%) say religion is “very important.”

“The younger generations probably weren’t really raised in a religious tradition, or maybe if they were, they didn’t go to church a lot…so I think that’s a big reason ” says Jeff Jones, senior editor at Gallup. .

A quarter of Americans (26%) reported being unaffiliated with a religion in 2023, up from 21% in 2013, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

The same study suggests that these religiously unaffiliated people are not seeking to acquire more religion. Only 9% say they are interested in finding a new religious or spiritual home.

The decline in church attendance reflects a major shift in Americans’ civic life and engagement, according to political scientist David Campbell, who says Americans have moved away from other types of groups in the past, but were always affiliated with an organized religion.

“Americans are less likely to spend time with each other in groups and organizations where they learn to cooperate with each other: they get things done, they come together to mobilize on an issue,” explains Campbell.

“There’s just a lot less of that, and the decline of religion is a big part of that story. »

Campbell, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, says another reason for the decline in religious faith could be an “allergic reaction to the religious right” among people who were already on the religious periphery .

“I don’t want to suggest that this is the only reason people are turning away from religion, but it’s certainly the main reason,” said Campbell, co-author of scientific studies on the links between politics and religion in the United States. .

“Increasingly, in the minds of many Americans, religion equates to the religious right, or the Republican Party, or perhaps support for (former President) Donald Trump. And if that’s what religion is, for a lot of people, they don’t want to be part of the religion,” he says.

Sam Abrams, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, whose core values ​​are “free people, free markets, and limited government,” noted one of the largest declines in religious adherence since Trump’s political rise was among the most important. women.

“You may actually come from a fairly religious household, but today the extremely conservative rhetoric on things like abortion and women’s roles is pushing young women away from that and turning them into atheists, agnostics, and ‘nones’. “or ‘nothing,'” says Abrams, who is also a professor of politics and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College.

“There was a bigger problem before that, which was widespread secularization and turning away from these religious organizations, and then the far-right phenomenon pushed people away very, very quickly,” he adds. .

A Pew poll finds that 28% of American adults describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” when it comes to religion. Atheists make up 4% of so-called “nonsense.” The survey reveals that most of them do not believe in God or a higher power, but do not attend religious services regularly.

About two-thirds of those surveyed say they are not religious because they question a significant part of religious teachings or because they do not believe in God.

The decline in the number of people attending services is occurring across all age groups, according to Gallup.

“We see much higher religious attendance among older generations and much lower among younger generations, but we still see declines in all age groups,” Jones says. “So even though older people are more likely to go to church, today’s older people are less likely to go than in the past. »

The growth of religious nonaffiliation began after the Cold War, which ended in 1989, according to Campbell. Shelly Melia, professor of children and family ministry at Dallas Baptist University, says the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many religious institutions to halt in-person services for a time, may -be accelerated the non-religious tendency.

Melia believes that young people are looking for something different from their parents. While older adults may be drawn to churches and formal religious events, younger adults may need a different approach.

“There is a need to move from an attraction model to an authentic model, because I think that is what our young people really want,” says Melia, who is a licensed professional counselor. “We have great buildings, and I think our younger generation sees the injustice in the world and is much more interested in fixing it than in supporting an institution that doesn’t feel like they care about it as much as ‘she should be.’

So what happens when a country loses its religion? Campbell cites examples of secular countries that are functioning democracies.

“Scandinavian countries are very secular and are generally considered among the most democratic of all democratic countries in the world. They are also countries with high levels of happiness,” says Campbell. “A secular society is therefore not necessarily a less democratic society or a less happy society. »

But with religious symbols deeply ingrained in the national symbols and traditions of the United States – “In God We Trust” is printed on currency and “So help me, God” is part of the presidential oath – how likely is it? that America becomes more secular?

“I suspect that in the medium to long term we will settle into a new equilibrium in which religion will not be completely erased from American life, but will only occupy a different space than it currently occupies,” Campbell says. .