Results: Poll: Fewer Than Half of American Adults Now Belong to a House of Worship
Published on 04/01/2021
For the first time in over 80 years of surveys on the subject, new Gallup data analysis released March 29 found that just 47% of American adults said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque in 2020—the first time that fewer than half of respondents reported membership at such houses of worship.
QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
Between 1998 and 2000, an average of 8% of Americans say they did not identify with any religion, per the company's biannual surveys of U.S. religious attitudes and practices, according to a three-year aggregate of Gallup's survey data. Just twenty years later, between 2018 and 2020, that figure had risen to 21%. Do you identify with a religion?
Yes
49%
1362 votes
Not fully, but I believe in something/ partake in some rituals
15%
427 votes
Undecided
6%
154 votes
No
30%
835 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
22 votes
2.
2.
Do you belong to a house of worship? Yes, for religious reasons
25%
708 votes
Yes, but for community reasons
3%
86 votes
Yes, for both religious and community reasons
9%
258 votes
No
62%
1748 votes
3.
3.
Jennifer Herdt, a professor of Christian ethics at Yale Divinity School, adds that she's heard stories of the pandemic bringing some people back towards worship, either because of the ease of a virtual service or the need for a support system and a sense of community. Have you or anyone you known turned more towards worship than usual due to the pandemic? Yes
17%
465 votes
No
68%
1912 votes
Not Applicable
15%
423 votes
4.
4.
Do you believe in the separation between state and church? Yes
61%
1699 votes
No
16%
447 votes
Undecided
23%
654 votes
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