Religiosity in America

Jul 1, 2010

A Gallup Poll from 2007-2008 showed that 65% of Americans at that time said religion was very important in their lives.

The data from the Gallup Poll showed that America was an oddity.  In general, countries with a high level of religiosity were very poor nations in Africa and Asia, and had a lower standard of living, while several of the countries with the lowest religiosity had some of the highest standards of living.  America was one of the very few countries with a higher standard of living, and a (comparatively) high percentage of highly religious people.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, the number of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives has dropped to 56%.

The Gallup Poll from 2008 only focused on how important religion was in the participants daily lives.  The newer survey asked additional questions, having participants report not only how important religion is in their daily lives, but also how frequently they attend religious services, how often they pray, and the certainty of their belief in God.

When you’re just comparing answers to the first question, the numbers appear promising.  It appears secularism is on the rise and religiosity is on the decline.  However, according to the same study, 71% of Americans said they believe in God with absolute certainty.  Why the discrepancy?

Many non-denominational protestant churches have gone out of their way to redefine “religion” to mean a “man made” belief system.  Then they argue that their church is not a “religion,” because they simply follow the Bible and create “relationships” with God.  (Oddly, all of these churches have no problem claiming the religious tax exception – probably because there is no tax exception for relationship counselors.)  These self-described “non-religious” religions may be skewing the numbers slightly, but I don’t think so.

You see, only 58% of people surveyed said they prayed daily, and only 39% said they regularly attend church services once a week.  Now these numbers are promising.

It appears Americans are starting to wake up and recognize the problems in religion, and they are becoming more secular as a result.  Sure, most Americans still believe in a God, but no one expects the entire nation to drop their deeply held superstitions overnight.  The transition is a slow process, but it does appear to be lumbering in the right direction.

The data also shows that the loud and out-spoken Christian Right (Pat Robertson, Glenn Beck, etc.) do not speak for the majority of Americas, they represent a diminishing minority.

Congratulations America for taking a set in the right direction.