GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
This is Easter weekend, a major Christian holiday. America often appears to be a very diverse country, with people of a variety of religious faiths from around the world. Just how many Americans are Christian?
America remains a predominantly Christian nation. About 85% of Americans say that their religious preference is a form of Christianity. That includes 59% who say that they are a member of a Protestant denomination, and 26% who say that they are Roman Catholic.
What are the rest -- the other 15%?
They are most likely to have no specific religion at all, rather than to be associated with a non-Christian religion. About 6% of Americans say they have "no" religious preference, and 4% can't name or designate a specific religion with which they are affiliated. That actually leaves just 5% who name a specific non-Christian religion in response to this question, including 2% who are Jewish.
Has this changed over time?
A little. America appears to be slightly less Christian now than it was in the past. The main reason for this change has been the increase in the number of Americans with "no religion" or who are unable to designate their religion. In 1952, for example, 67% of Americans said that they were Protestant and 25% said they were Catholic, for a total of 92% Christian, while only 2% said they had no religion. The percentage who are Christian fell to a low point of roughly 81% in 1990 and 1991, a time when the "no religion" category rose to 11%.
Most Americans may profess to have a religious faith, but are all of these people members of churches?
About seven out of ten Americans claim to be members of a church or synagogue, a number that has stayed remarkably stable over the years. For example, in 1937, 73% of Americans were members of a church or synagogue. The high point on this question was 76% -- immediately after World War II in 1947. The lowest percentage was recorded in 1996, but was still 64%, compared to the current 68%. All in all, the percentage of Americans who say they are members of a church or synagogue has fluctuated within a remarkably small range over the years -- generally always close to the 70% mark.
It's one thing to be a member of a church or synagogue; it is another to attend. How many Americans actually go to church regularly?
Gallup has two ways of measuring church attendance. In any given week, about four out of ten Americans say that they have been to church within the last seven days. In March of this year, the last time we asked this question, the number was 44%. But in 1939, it was 41% -- not much different from today. Americans were most religious in the 1950s -- when, at one point (in 1958), 49% said they had attended church or synagogue within the last seven days. The low point for church attendance came in this decade. In a Gallup poll in 1997, only 35% said they had attended church in the last seven days.
Still, even though only four out of ten attend church in any given week, only 10% say they never attend. Another 30% say they "seldom" attend, which means that 60% of Americans say they attend worship services about once a month or more.
We would expect that this number will be higher on Easter Sunday.
Who is it that goes to church most often?
Older people, women, nonwhites, those living in the South and Midwest, better-educated Americans, conservatives and Republicans.
To be specific, in March, when Gallup's last survey that included this question was conducted, only 38% of Democrats had gone to church within the last seven days, compared to 54% of Republicans.
Are people telling us the truth when they say they attend church?
Good question! That's been the subject of a great deal of scholarly debate in sociological and public opinion circles in recent years. Some scholars contend that there is overreporting of church attendance, and that on any given Sunday we couldn't really find 44% of the adult public in church pews. In fact, one diligent team of researchers interviewed residents in a county in Ohio, and then fanned out and actually counted church attendance at each and every church in the county (in some instances counting the cars in the parking lots). They couldn't come up with as many warm bodies in church as the survey responses would have suggested.
It is probably true that Americans overgeneralize when responding to the question. Some probably are not just remembering Sunday morning when they answer the question, but perhaps are also referring to prayer groups and other forms of religious worship when they say yes.
Still, the remarkable constancy of this measure suggests to researchers that there have most probably been no wholesale shifts in church attendance in recent years.
Is religion important to people today?
Yes. Sixty-one percent of Americans say religion is "very important" in their own lives, while another 27% say it is fairly important. Only 12% say it is not at all important. The current 61% is higher than it was in the '80s, when surveys routinely found slightly lower percentages saying that religion was very important in their lives.
Who is most likely to say that religion is important in their lives?
One of the most important variables is age. The older one gets, the more likely one is to profess that religion is very important in his or her life. Among young people aged 18-29, for example, only 50% in Gallup's most recent March survey said that religion was very important. That number jumps to 60% among 30-49s, 61% among 50-64s, and way up to 75% among those 65 and older. Women are also more likely to say that religion is very important to them than are men, by a 14-percentage-point margin; also, nonwhites are more religious than are whites, and people living in the South and the Midwest are more religious than are those living in either the East or the West.
One last question. Do Americans believe in God?
Yes, 90% or more of Americans say, year after year, that they believe in God. And, in a 1996 survey, 82% said that they are "sometimes very conscious of the presence of God."
