Religious attendance in the United States has seen a significant shift, with Catholics experiencing a notable decline.
According to recent Gallup poll results, there is a broader trend of decreased participation across various religions, with only three in 10 US adults attending religious services regularly.
The downturn is especially pronounced among Catholics, who have witnessed “one of the larger drops in attendance,” from 45% two decades ago to 33% in recent years.
This decline is attributed in part to “the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation,” which rose from 9% in the early 2000s to 21%. Interestingly, this surge in non-affiliation seems to correlate strongly with the downturn in church attendance.
Despite the overall decrease, “Muslim and Jewish Americans have shown slight increases in religious service attendance over the past two decades,” indicating variations in attendance trends among different religions.
Gallup’s findings on young Americans’ religious preferences also gave insight into generational attitudes toward religion. Specifically, “more 18- to 29-year-olds, 35%, say they have no religious preference,” indicating a shift in religious identification among younger people.
The data for Gallup’s analysis comes from comprehensive telephone interviews with over 32,000 U.S. adults.
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