Religious ‘switching’ patterns will help determine Christianity’s course in U.S.
Whether the U.S. will continue to have a Christian majority in 2070 will depend on many factors, including religious “switching.”
Whether the U.S. will continue to have a Christian majority in 2070 will depend on many factors, including religious “switching.”
Since the 1990s, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join the growing ranks of U.S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades.
Americans’ ratings of the Supreme Court are now as negative as – and more politically polarized than – at any point in more than three decades of polling. And nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%) now say the Supreme Court has too much power, almost three times the share who said this in August 2020 (23%).
While the economy remains the dominant issue in this fall’s midterm elections, the issue of abortion has increased markedly in importance. More voters continue to view their midterm vote as an expression of opposition to Joe Biden than support for him. But across both parties, more voters now say Biden is not much of a factor in their vote.
India’s artificially wide ratio of baby boys to baby girls – which arose in the 1970s from the use of prenatal diagnostic technology to facilitate sex-selective abortions – now appears to be narrowing. Son bias has declined sharply among Sikhs, while Christians continue to have a natural balance of sons and daughters.
While the largest Christian traditions and religious “nones” can be consistently analyzed, smaller groups produce a large margin of error.
As the nation’s post-Roe chapter begins and the legal battle shifts to the states, here are key facts about Americans’ views on abortion.
Americans increasingly say gender is determined by one’s sex assigned at birth, but they differ by religion on this and other transgender issues.
Opinion on the legality of abortion has changed little since before the court's decision, with 62% now saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Here are key findings from our research on the relationship between religion and government in the U.S. and Americans' views on the issue.
The Global Religious Futures (GRF) project is jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The John Templeton Foundation. Here are some big-picture findings from the GRF, together with context from other Pew Research Center studies.
Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. Across the major religious groups, most people say it is very important to respect all religions to be “truly Indian.”
Today, most Black adults say they rely on prayer to help make major decisions, and view opposing racism as essential to their religious faith.
The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the share of Americans who do not identify with any organized religion is growing. These changes affect all regions in the country and many demographic groups.