Around 4 in 10 Americans have become more spiritual over time; fewer have become more religious
Most Americans are spiritual or religious in some way and many also say their spirituality and level of religiosity have changed over time.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Most Americans are spiritual or religious in some way and many also say their spirituality and level of religiosity have changed over time.
In the United States, 21% of adults overall say they fast for certain periods during holy times.
Whether the U.S. will continue to have a Christian majority in 2070 will depend on many factors, including religious “switching.”
A rising share of Asian Americans say they have no religion (32%), but many consider themselves close to one or more religious traditions for reasons such as family or culture. Christianity is still the largest faith group among Asian Americans (34%).
Today, most Black adults say they rely on prayer to help make major decisions, and view opposing racism as essential to their religious faith.
In the new survey, the Center attempted for the first time to pose some of these philosophical questions to a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, finding that Americans largely blame random chance – along with people’s own actions and the way society is structured – for human suffering, while relatively few believers blame God or voice doubts about the existence of God for this reason.
The vast majority of religiously unaffiliated Black Americans believe in God and about half pray regularly, although few attend services.
Based on certain traditional measures of religious observance, U.S. Jews are far less religious than U.S. Christians and Americans overall.
Today, there are millions of Christians in India, although they make up just 2.4% of the country’s massive population.
Majorities of Black adults say predominantly Black churches have done at least some to help Black Americans.
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