Religious Commitment

Since the establishment of the ATP, the Center has gradually migrated away from telephone polling and toward online survey administration, and since early 2019, the Center has conducted most of its U.S. polling on the ATP. This shift has major implications for the way the Center measures trends in American religion – including those from the Center’s flagship Religious Landscape Studies, which were conducted by phone in 2007 and 2014.

U.S. Hispanic teens are more likely than U.S. teens overall to identify as Catholic and say it’s necessary to believe in God to be moral.

American adolescents often participate at parents’ behest, and tend to be less religious in more personal, private ways.

About a quarter of teens who identify with a religion and attend public school say they regularly pray before eating lunch at school.

Religion in public schools has long been a controversial issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that teachers and administrators cannot lead prayers in public schools, and a decision in 2000 barred school districts from sponsoring student-led prayers at football games. At the same time, the court has held that students retain a First […]

Gay, lesbian and bisexual adults are substantially less likely than straight adults to affiliate with a religious group or to attend religious services weekly.

When compared with other wealthy nations, the U.S. is unique in that a large share of its population prays every day.

People see diversity and gender equality increasing in their countries but say family ties have weakened. Views on the importance of religion vary widely.

In many countries, actively religious people are more likely than their less-religious peers to describe themselves as very happy.

About half of black Muslims are converts to Islam, a relatively high conversion level. Black Muslims, like black Americans overall, have high levels of religious commitment.