On the Monday before Easter 2021, Gallup published a poll indicating that membership of a church, synagogue, or mosque had dropped below fifty percent of U.S. adults for the first time in eight decades.
For six of those decades, the number hovered around 70 percent. It has since dropped to just 47 percent, with the sheerest decline occurring in the past two decades.
Religion In America Is Hollowing Out.
The study noted:
“The decline in church membership… appears largely tied to population change, with those in older generations who were likely to be church members being replaced in the U.S. adult population with people in younger generations who are less likely to belong. The change has become increasingly apparent in recent decades because millennials and Gen Z are further apart from traditionalists in their church membership rates (about 30 points lower) than baby boomers and Generation X are (eight and 16 points, respectively).”
Similarly, Pew Research has found that more Americans (41 percent) reported the global pandemic strengthening family bonds, compared to the 28 percent who reported it had strengthened their personal religious faith.
Despite that, America led other advanced economies by 12 percentage points in believing their faith had been strengthened.
