Here’s How Many Americans Believe Religion is Important

Is religion gaining popularity among Americans? Do anecdotal stories of revivals on college campuses or young people connecting with faith in other ways reflect something greater in culture?

Not if the latest research is to be believed.

Fewer than half of Americans say religion is very important in their lives, a new Gallup poll has found. Fifty-seven percent report that they rarely or never attend religious services.

“I think this is another piece of evidence about how there is no religious revival happening in America,” said Ryan Burge, a political scientist at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Religion News Service. “There’s nothing here that would represent any sort of major reversal or significant change in the trajectory of religion in America.”

Among the biggest declines was the percentage of black Americans who say religion is “very important” in their lives. Between 2001 and 2005, 85 percent of U.S. blacks said religion was very important, compared with 63 percent from 2021 to 2025, a 22 percentage point drop over two decades.

Among the groups that experienced virtually no decline were Republicans. Two-thirds said religion was very important to them 20 years ago, and 64 percent said the same last year. Democrats fell from 60 percent to 37 percent over the past two decades. Although Republicans continue to say religion is very important in their lives, however, their self-reported church attendance has dropped.

“They like the idea of religion — that hasn’t changed — but they don’t actually go as much,” Burge said. “So it’s sort of like a symbolic religion.”

The number of men who said religion was “very important” in their lives fell from 51 percent over the past 20 years to 43 percent, an 8 percentage point drop. Even more significant, the number of women who say religion is “very important” fell from 66 percent to 51 percent over the past two decades, a 15 percentage point drop. This suggests the gender gap is closing. Women still are more religious than men, but the importance of religion is falling fast among females, suggesting the gender gap eventually may disappear if trends continue.

Young adults are particularly less likely to participate in religious services, with 61 percent seldom or never going. This presages a particularly gloomy prospect for religious institutions. Gallup suggested generational replacement may lead to a long-term trajectory of decline. “Younger adults are both less likely to identify with a religion and less likely to attend services, reshaping the nation’s religious landscape as they constitute a growing share of the population,” the report said.

–Alan Goforth