Religiosity in America is at its lowest level in 80 years

The United States is still a religious country, but it is experiencing the lowest level of religious membership in eight decades, with less than half of its population regularly participating in prayer and religious rituals in places of worship, according to a new Gallup poll.

Washington – Sputnik. The results of the survey published today, Monday, showed that 47% of Americans belong to a Christian church, synagogue or mosque in 2020, down from a record 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.

The highest level of church membership in the United States was 73% recorded by Gallup in 1937, and membership remained near 70% for the next 60 years before beginning to decline at the turn of the 21st century, according to a statement about the poll.

The statement said that

The decline in church membership corresponds to larger societal trends of declining attendance at churches, and the increase in the percentage of Americans who do not have a religious preference, as the percentage of the latter increased from 8% in the period 1998-2000 to 21% in the past three years.The results of the survey showed that the decline is greater among Catholics, which decreased from 76% to 58%, compared to Protestants, from 73% to 64%. The survey results are based on a total of research spanning three years from 2018 to 2020 and consists of data from more than 6,000 adults.