Feb. 26 (UPI) — The decline in the number of people in the United States identifying as Christian has slowed down and might have leveled off, according to a new Pew Research Center poll published Wednesday.
The Pew Religious Landscape Study showed 62% of poll respondents identify as Christian while 29% are religiously unaffiliated.
Pew said in an executive summary of poll findings, that “the Christian share of the population, after years of decline, has been relatively stable since 2019.”
The poll found the Christian share of the U.S. adult population between 2019 and 2024 stayed between 60% and 64%.
The decline in Christianity in America had been happening since 2007 before appearing to level off in this poll.
Pew said in action statement, “The latest RLS, fielded over seven months in 2023-24, finds that 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christians. That is a decline of 9 percentage points since 2014 and a 16-point drop since 2007.”
Among those who said they were Christian in the poll, 40% identified as Protestant, 19% Catholic and 3% are other Christians.
Pew’s poll sampling 36,908 adults found 2% of poll respondents were Jewish and 1% each said they are Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu.
Much higher percentages reported having spiritual beliefs, with 86% believing in the existence of a soul, 83% believing in God or a universal spirit, 79% believing in something spiritual beyond the natural world and 70% believing in an afterlife and heaven or hell or both.
The Pew poll found younger people are far less religious than older Americans.
Among Americans older than 74, 80% said they are Christian while just 46% of people 18-24 identified as Christian. Daily prayer was reported by 58% of the older group, with just 27% of the younger group reporting daily prayer.
Pew said in a statement, “One driver of the long-term trend is ‘generational replacement.’ Older, highly religious, heavily Christian generations are passing away. The younger generations succeeding them are much less religious, with smaller percentages of Christians and more ‘nones.'”
The poll showed political polarization among those identifying as Christian.
Among Conservative poll respondents, 82% said they were Christian. Moderates reported 61% identifying as Christian. For liberals, just 37% said they were Christian in this poll.
