The results of a comprehensive survey into the religious experiences of American adults have been released, offering some sobering food for thought to spiritual and faith organisations.
Surveying 5,600 adults in 2023, the report by PRRI accommodates their responses to questions spanning the effectiveness of major faith traditions in retaining their members, why people leave their church, and the explanations that those that remain attend religious services.
The survey also asked questions on the connection between respondents’ political ideologies and faith, in addition to the role that aspects like sexual orientation or upbringing affect their relation to the church.
While almost a fifth of Americans who grew up within the church reported that they not felt affiliated with any faith tradition (19%), lower than 5% of those that grew up with none religious background joined a faith tradition as an adult.
Perhaps much more worrying was that only a few respondents who identified with the unaffiliated category were in search of a recent faith to call their very own, with lower than one in ten (9%) agreeing with the statement “I’m in search of a faith that will be right for me”.
The biggest lack of believers occurred in “mainstream” denominations, akin to the Roman Catholic Church and mainline Protestant churches. Out of the 18% of white Americans who grew up as Catholics, only 12% proceed to discover as members of their childhood faith. However, the retention rate amongst Hispanic Catholics was somewhat higher.
One demographic bucking the trend, though, was that of white evangelical Protestants, with the web lack of members declining since 2016. Enjoying one in every of the very best retention rates of all religious groups at 76%, this has jumped 10% since 2016, once they were only holding on to 2 in three members.
When asked why they’d stopped identifying with their faith tradition, the overwhelming majority answered that they’d simply stopped believing within the teachings of their church, a number that continues to grow (as much as 67% from 60% in 2016). However, LGBTQ issues proceed to carry a outstanding role in forming American attitudes to their faith, with almost half of those (47%) who had left their church citing negative teachings about, or treatment of, gay and lesbian people as a crucial think about their selection to go away their childhood religion.
Increasing public awareness of sexual abuse scandals amongst clergy also appears to be a big factor, with the variety of respondents mentioning these issues increasing from slightly below a fifth to almost a 3rd since 2016. And while a growing number criticised their church or congregations for becoming too focused on politics (20%), unaffiliated Americans were more prone to cite negative impacts on their mental health as a reason why they left (32%).
Despite the growing numbers of Americans identifying as unaffiliated with any religion, there may be some excellent news to be present in the report. A slim majority of Americans still say that religion is crucial thing of their lives (15%), or some of the necessary things (38%). However, with this number significantly lower than in 2013 (27% and 45%) there may be clearly no room for complacency amongst faith communities.
Other data collected offered an insight into what’s keeping believers in church, with respondents reporting that they attended regular services to feel closer to God (90%), a desire to experience religion in a community (79%), and to instil positive values of their children (79%).
