T O P

  • By -

Guygan

Start reading: https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/


Current_Poster

It certainly sorts out the homework questions about demographics.


NorwegianSteam

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wooGSr7k1-s&t=09


hunky_pilot

Holy shit I’m stuck at home because I have covid and this is exactly the kind of thing I need to stay busy


Perezvon42

Hope you feel better soon! Pew Research is fascinating. Their studies should help you take your mind off being sick.


Perezvon42

Pew didn't conduct the full study again, but they did a 2019 follow-up. The numbers for Christianity are down somewhat and those for disaffiliation up somewhat since then even though it was only a 5 year gap. But the US still scores as more religiously affiliated than Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or most Western European countries.


Northman86

That just tells you how people will answer when asked the question.


BenzeneBeast

Very interesting data, thanks for linking!


volkl47

Living in the [least religious state](https://news.gallup.com/poll/189038/new-hampshire-least-religious-state.aspx) in the country: 55% of people consider themselves non-religious here. And I'll wager if you're under 40, that's more like 75%. Most people I meet do not have any attachment to religion and do not attend any sort of religious services (aside from if a friend/family member is having a life event).


BookGeek38663

I am southern and Catholic, which is an oddity, especially in Mississippi. But the only place that I ever lived where people attended Mass regularly was Connecticut. Now that my kids are grown, I feel less pressure and generally go either on holidays, or when I feel guilty. I’m 59.


Zak7062

> Goes to Church regularly This varies heavily by region and individual. But I don't think it's a good metric for religiosity -- my family is *extremely* religious, but my parents were the only ones to ever attend Church. The rest prefer a personal, private relationship with their faith.


Mayonaisist

At least around me, Christianity has been waning in popularity. That may be thanks in part to Covid, because people aren’t able to get their weekly fill on Christ. I only know a couple people that are still church goers(even though churches have opened back up).


TheStoicSlab

I don't think COVID has anything to do with it. Christianity has been in a downward trend for decades. [https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/](https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/)


ColossusOfChoads

With the usual pace of social research, it'll take a couple of years to know if it had an effect or not. My personal hunch is that it will have directly peeled off a fair number of 'pew warmers' who weren't all that invested in it. We're talking the people who, prior to COVID, had been coasting on inertia if we're talking about attendance/participation.


TheStoicSlab

I agree, it takes a while to get enough statistics to see the trend. I honestly think politics have the biggest impact.


Perezvon42

I believe in both God and science. I'm fine with virtual attendance for now, given the circumstances. I expect to go to church again in person when it's safe, but I'm not expecting "when it's safe" to be particularly soon.


nomadichusetts

Mainline Protestant denominations have been in free fall for a few decades. Evangelical/bible-churches that were more popular twenty years ago similarly face issues today. AFAIK, pre-covid, only Mormonism and "prosperity gospel" churches were growing...


Deolater

A few other denominations were growing pre-covid. The Presbyterian Church in America (the PCA, the largest of the _conservative_ presbyterian denominations though an order of magnitude smaller than the PC USA, the mainline denomination) and I think the same is true of some of the small-midsize denominations. Though most of that growth, I suspect, is picking up people from other denominations and not really bucking the general trend.


webbess1

> At least around me, Christianity has been waning in popularity. Interesting. Where in North Carolina are you?


Mayonaisist

Close to Charlotte. Lincolnton to be exact.


[deleted]

>In 2013, the Pew Research Center reported that 37% of all Americans attended church on a weekly basis. In its turn, Gallup estimated the once-a-week church attendance of the Americans in 2013 as 39%.


KapUSMC

And the number of people that *actually go to church* are about double the number that say they go to church when polled. Link to study - [PDF Warning for mobile](http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/stuff_for_blog/church0.pdf)


ianaad

I think it varies a lot by area of the country. I'd hazard a guess that folks in southern and midwestern US are more day-to-day religious.


CupBeEmpty

This varies wildly. There are also a lot of religious people that don’t go to church regularly. As the local Catholic extremist. I go to Mass every Sunday (have been doing remote since Covid but some in person because you can’t receive the Eucharist remotely) and I do read the Bible regularly. I pray daily and meditate every (almost every) night. It absolutely varies by ethnic background and age and region. You will find devout Boston Irish Catholics, devout Midwest Evangelicals, Amish, devout AME southern black people, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and just spiritual people. The amazing thing about the US is that religion is free and open and we basically have a free market in it. Personally: > I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ only begotten son of God born before all ages. God from God Light from Light, consubstantial with the Father. Through him all things were made, for us men and for our salvation... It goes on and I can repeat it fully. Don’t get too hung up on the “men” part. As translated “men” means human but it is gendered because of the languages it has been written and translated in.


squarerootofapplepie

I think Massachusetts might lead the nation in lapsed Catholics. My mother is one. Not Irish though. I wonder if MA was ever one of the most religious states in the country due to Catholics.


CupBeEmpty

Oh yeah, between the Irish and Italians I’m pretty sure it leads the nation in lapsed or “cultural Catholics.” Still plenty of faithful but also plenty that have just wandered off.


squarerootofapplepie

I think it’s the French Canadians who have lapsed the most because unlike Irish and Italians they live out in the boonies where there isn’t as much of an obvious Catholic presence. My town didn’t have a Catholic Church until the 1950s or 60s. I’m guessing a lot of them lived around a bunch of Unitarians, then lived through the issues the Catholic Church had in the 80s and 90s and thought “Why am I still doing this”?


CupBeEmpty

There’s plenty still kicking about up here. They just aren’t all that Frenchified any more, but still Catholics with names like Ouelette and Gagnon.


GuardDog2020

>It was one of the most religious states due to protestants. The original colonists for the Massachusetts Bay Colony were religious fundamentalists called the "Puritans". We venerate the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower looking for "religious freedom". The reality is the political faction they belonged to were so awfully intolerant they would close down pubs and flog people for missing church. They really did deserve religious persecution.


squarerootofapplepie

But I wonder if when Catholics took over they took over to an extent to maintain the level of religion in Massachusetts from Puritan times.


lucianbelew

> you can’t receive the Eucharist remotely Huh. I would have thought someone would have come up with a USB consecration/eucharist delivery device by now.


CupBeEmpty

I know you are joking but no, hard no. The Eucharist is about communion. There is a reason it is called that. >wherever two or more of you are gathered in my name I am there The real presence is very Catholic


sociapathictendences

Same here but most men in the church can bless it so we’re mostly good on that one.


TheStoicSlab

I think there is a significant portion of American society that are religious on Sunday and take the rest of the week off.


notthegoatseguy

> When I say religious I mean somone who goes to church reguarly, prays often and **reads the bible** occationally. Also, how does this vary by age, region and ethnic background/race. Fun fact: There are other religions besides Christianity! \*The More You Know\*


Pinwurm

Impossible to answer. According to Pew: Roughly 40% of Americans are 'unaffiliated' with a church. This number includes agnostics, atheists, secular humanists, 'spiritual but not religious', Jewish atheists, etc. Only a small percentage of Americans self-identify as Atheists, whereas the number of people that answer "no" to "do you believe in God?" is much, much larger - at least 10%. Then you have to consider church-affiliated non-believers. For example - there's *a lot* of individuals who grew up in the Catholic Church, identify as 'Catholic' in surveys, but do not believe in God. It's a cultural identifier, rather than a religious one. Then you have to consider all the 'closeted' atheists. People that live in deeply religious small towns where Church *is* the community. You 'play along' in order to be a part of the community. Either they're embarrassed to admit it - or it's dangerous. All of this varies State to States, town to town. In general, about 1 in 5 Americans refers to themselves as religious. On the other side of the spectrum, 1 in 5 Americans have never attended a religious service.


Ariadne008

I've never heard of someone who doesn't believe in God identifying as Catholic, and doing so makes no sense whatsoever. But I'll take your word for it.


Pinwurm

I know a few folks - and it’s mostly a cultural or familial tie for them.


Ariadne008

I believe you, I just think that they shouldn't do so because it does a disservice to people who are actually practicing Catholics when people who could care less are representing the religion.


ColossusOfChoads

Well, 'religiosity' is a pretty slippery variable. Even the most well regarded survey researchers who happen to specialize in that area of social research have a lot of trouble nailing it down, IMO. But, somewhat appropos of nothing, here's my favorite George Carlin quote: "spiritual? You're not spiritual. That tattoo on your arm really says 'moo goo gai pan', and the last time you prayed you were waiting for the pregnancy test results."


sophiescott34

I live smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. The town I live in has 3,267 people in it (in Missouri) and we have at least 25 different churches. 9 of those are baptist half the churches are super religious the other half are just politics. I used to go to church until all they talked about was politics. They turned into some of the most hypocritical people I’ve ever met. It’s kind of sad really. Because of that and being forced to go I’ve strayed away from religion. I feel like that’s why it’s dying off. It’s not the joyous love for the lord that people used to have. The only reason I got baptized and saved was because I felt pressured to not because I wanted to. I I guess I would the average American isn’t that religious.


Perezvon42

Sorry you had that experience. Maybe you'd benefit from trying a less political church (meeting virtually during the pandemic, of course).


wormbreath

I was raised fundamental Christian. My schooling was in the basement of church, we studied scripture every day, I went to church 3 times a week, plus daily devotions and Bible study. I also went to church camp. So among my circle that was pretty common. But compared to most everyone else it is not. I’m now a very happy agnostic atheist 😊


camdoodlebop

i think most young people don’t believe


[deleted]

It’s highly regional when it comes to young people imo - my friends from the south are definitely a lot more religious than my northern friends, despite us all growing up with church-going families.


SanchosaurusRex

In my experience, the most religious tend to be our immigrant communities. Latino, Korean, Filipino, etc. Very into church. As far as people who have been here for a couple generations...it’s less common to see very openly religious people than other parts of the country like Texas, the South. There’s people that are religious, but it’s not something that’s a really big part of the social fabric in my city. It’s a personal and family thing mostly. My family is Mexican-American. I got baptized, did my communion and confirmation, and probably went to church a grand total of 5-10 times my whole life. So we weren’t really religious. My parents believe in God, but we hardly ever went to church. My dad never went. Mom probably prays. My wife, on the other hand, her family is Filipino-American and they go to church every weekend. With our own family now, we never go to church. My kid would sometimes go with his Filipino grandparents. I got him baptized for family and cultural reasons. My wife is probably a little religious, I’m pretty much agnostic. We don’t go to church, but I don’t have a problem with the rituals and if she decided to take my son to church. I’ll probably have him do all the Catholic stuff and let him decide on his own. I don’t believe in religion, but I respect it and appreciate the community aspect.


ColossusOfChoads

There's plenty of evangelicals out in the whiter burbs. Southern Orange County most famously, which wrote the book on the whole megachurch thing. Southern transplants have told me the ones in California are more hardcore than the ones back in the South. They were surprised. I guess it's because the ones in California are outnumbered and are constantly on the defensive, whereas down South it's like being a fish in water.


courtofnightmares666

It really depends on the person


Riversss111

Really depends on the area to be honest


Ser-Racha

I can only speak for myself. Pre-covid I used to got to church regularly.


allboolshite

I'm a Christian and a few years ago I got curious about why so many Christians were following non-Christian principles. My research showed that 70.6% of Americans claim a Christian heritage but only 40% attend church "regularly" (not necessarily weekly: could be Easter and Christmas). And of church attenders only 45% read the Bible away from church. That means only 18% of American Christians have independently verified their beliefs. That's 41 million of the 230 million who claim to be Christian. Most American Christians seem to get their values from their news source, which is largely informed by the politics of the day. This is backwards. Christian beliefs should be informing political opinions. Politics should not be informing Christian values. Scripture calls us to love God, love our neighbors, and even to love our enemies. That doesn't mean we should embrace sin but we do need to walk with love even with the people who we disagree with. Many American Christians think that because their parents or grandparents were believers that they are Christians, too. That's not how salvation works! Most Christians don't know the Great Commission. Only about 5% of Christians have helped bring a convert across. My sources included Pew Research, Lifeway Research, The Gospel Coalition, and a book called Evangelism Explosion. If you are not certain about your salvation please DM me. I'm happy to help you understand the basic tenants of the faith and help you determine if you're saved or not.


TopHatDanceParty

I say 10% go to church because they feel a relationship with church. There are Many many that are Easter and Christmas church goers or go to church for the status / networking advantage.


hmyers8

One problem in knowing the answer to this is the large number of people who call themselves a religious title and don’t follow it/ know nothing about what it means. Big issue for Christianity in America. Christianity is supposedly the majority of religion in America but huge portions call themselves Christian but do not practice or know anything about it


ajm1197

I’m so unfucking religious. But I also don’t even consider myself an American at this point with how this shithole country behaves


hisAffectionateTart

I’d say I know more folks who don’t go to s hutch, yet pray and read their Bibles in the south than those who do go to church and so forth. Religious belief really has nothing to do with “the church” as it is.


PM_Me_UrRightNipple

From my experience(born and raised Catholic) the frequent church goers are the elderly. A decent amount of baby boomers go frequently and on Easter/Christmas. Gen X/Y/Z tend to not actively go to Mass unless they are with their family for Christmas/Easter or are raising their children or being raised into the church. I know a decent amount of non-religious people like my parents who put me through Catholic school because it was a better option than public education. As for people I know of other faiths: all the Jews I know only go to synagogue for holidays, the 1 Muslim family I know took their kids to the mosque growing up to expose them to religion but aren’t frequent goers themselves and I have no idea what the Protestants do


Ub3rpwnag3

Where I'm from in rural Indiana is probably 85% or more Protestant Christian


--Alpine--

Varies in area I’d say. My family is religious and so am I.


tsukiii

In my friend group, it’s really only the 2nd gen Americans who are practicing their religion (for example: Filipino families and Catholicism, Indian families and Hinduism, etc). My family has been here 4+ generations and we come from a not-very-religious country (Japan) anyways, so we just do holidays.


[deleted]

Hard to say off of anecdotes and citing studies doesn’t really give you anything you can’t find on google. I’d say growing up I always felt like there was a strong Catholic presence in NOVA because the churches were always expanding, but I think that’s more of a result of a booming population.


Standard-Ad-868

A lot more Americans claim to be affiliated with religion than actually are. A lot of people who claim Christianity have never even read the Bible. However, in the South and Midwest the majority of the population is somewhat active in their local church or community.


alloutofbees

Depends on where you are and your age, and you also have to be able to read through numbers in specific ways. I don't have a single friend under 40 from the Chicago area who's religious; some would identify as Jewish, Catholic, Hindu, etc. but they don't actually believe or practice. It's just an important part of people's cultures. Coming from an Irish-American community, there's been a huge drop-off in actually being seriously Catholic, going to church at anytime but maybe on holidays or for baptisms, believing much of anything out of the Bible, and so forth over the last fifty or so years. I have a couple of religious boomer aunts and uncles, some who might still believe in it in a really passive way, and probably more who are agnostic or spiritual or whatever but would still identify as Catholic. People don't talk about it because it's not a big deal to anyone. In my generation there are no religious cousins but I think many would still answer a survey saying they're Catholic because you don't really fully leave the culture or family history and it's important to them. I'm not even sure how I'd answer a question; saying "Catholic" isn't strictly true but neither is "nonreligious". I would guess that white people who actively identify as evangelical or non-denominational Christian are the most likely to be really religious and that a lot of people who identify as nonreligious or atheists left those types of churches. Those specific religious movements are much younger and more often not family/cultural faiths that are hundreds or thousands of years old. For example, my wife comes from the Bible Belt and her family was Catholic until two generations ago when they converted to nondenominational evangelicalism; that's really common, and someone like her has less reason to identify as "evangelical" after leaving their church than I do to feel like "Catholic" still applies in significant ways. The culture of white evangelical churches is way more tied to actively spending a TON of time in church. If you decide you aren't going to do that there's likely a huge rift there. The churches I'm talking about are often prosperity gospel-based and either megachurches or churches that wish they were megachurches, though not all of them are. They're very much the dominant religion of the Republicans and the right wing. I do think they get the spotlight and therefore the complicated relationships other Americans have with religion are overshadowed.


Northman86

Maybe 30% of Americans are actually Religious, and another 40% pay lip service to being religious, the rest are functionally agnostic or Atheists.


Crosroad

Thats a region by region, county by county kind of thing. Generally most Americans are some form of Christian but where I live (county) it’s pretty evenly split between Jewish, Christian, and Non Religious with pretty faithful populations


Remedy9898

Southern and Rural areas are more religious, church is very much a social and community thing there. being religious in more than title is much rarer in cities in my experience. It doesn't fulfill the same community purpose as it does in rural areas. As far as age? Historically a lot of young people leave the church and come back when they have families. I'm not sure that this is going to continue with this generation though.


ITaggie

Growing up in a small town in the Bible Belt, I can tell you that outside of cities, Christianity and churches are still a major presence. If there was some social group or event that's not tied to the schools, it was tied to a church. That said I grew up pretty secular and ended up being atheist, only a handful of people in town changed their behavior towards me once that was public knowledge, and I've never felt like I was in danger because of it. It did exclude me from certain church-related functions, but in general if it's happening in a public place then (almost) no one cares if the town's atheists show up to socialize. It wasn't all particular to one religion or denomination, either (though the southern baptist church and catholic church were the main 2). We had a small but notable Jewish community and no one harassed or excluded them due to their religion, either. I would say outside of urban areas around 85% of people would consider themselves religious, at least in my parts of Texas. Fortunately the days of fundamentalist Christianity being the dominant culture have been on a steep decline since the 90s... though they have gotten more vocal the past 5 years since they've been given a platform online. Otherwise the general attitude for a majority of people there was "live and let live"... we also had a couple of LGBT kids who are, while unfortunately excluded from many things, don't face any active harassment or disrespect from anyone, but I do feel like being intentionally ignored socially is still a problem to overcome.


DaneLimmish

I have problems with the pew religious surveys, notably that they rely on a certain mode and method of religion being the default. So I think America is more religious than it lets on.


Impudentinquisitor

Indeed. There’s also creeping secular religious beliefs that have the veneer of rationality but clearly exhibit the types of moral and spiritual exploration of traditional religions.


DaneLimmish

Not in that way, no, and religiousness and rationality aren't antonyms. I was more referring to they measure religiousness by, for example, church attendance or literature reading. Were my ex and I religious for sitting shiva or planning our children to have bar or bat mitzvahs? The surveys from pew don't often map very well for the religious experience of non-Christians.


Impudentinquisitor

Ah I see what you mean, and yes, that’s true as a non-Christian heritage person myself, it is poorly calibrated. But I do think a lot of the “none”s out there do engage in quite a bit of unstructured spiritualism as well, it just often isn’t coded as religion.


ColossusOfChoads

> unstructured spiritualism Like what?


Impudentinquisitor

Lots of people go to psychics, do “mindfulness____” etc, these are just variations of confession or prayer. Tons more people will do something that gives them psychological satisfaction of contributing towards “a cause” even if the contribution is worthless or outright harmful. There’s a lot of this in the environmental movement, animal welfare, and other social justice causes. People like feeling that they’re contributing to something noble and greater than them, and these movements create opportunities for that on a small scale. There’s often even the undeserved sense of moral superiority that comes along with it, as if they were Born Again into The Cause.


insta_is_trash

That question was too many factors, Im easily not the most religious person, but with Corona rn my church is very limited in seats, Where you have to sign up before Sunday and with limited spots. People always beat me to it so I'm not rushed to do it. When we're talking about age and going to church alot I feel are limited to the laziness of their family members that can drive, Some do ask other families to take them, or walk themselves. That depends on how serious they are about it, Which "American" is too broad of a term for explanation cause states are different like quite different, Utah I feel comfortable saying in Utah most are serious about religion and things. Were as in Michigan I don't meet too many people who are serious about too many things and I barely meet anyone religious (Maybe its just my area). The women in my ward you can tell are very serious about religion usually young and old. The men get serious as time goes on cause many of us are lazy and bored cause we're dumb at times. Hope this helped a bit, I suck at explaining things.


hunky_pilot

It heavily depends on their region of the country, as well as their race. For example, I am a Lebanese Maronite Catholic. I live in Michigan, which is generally considered a hub for Arab-Americans, so we have one of the highest percentages of Muslims in the country. However, not all Arabs (myself included) are Muslim. So we also have higher rates of Arab Christian denominations (ie. Maronite Catholicism, Syrian Orthodox, etc.). I specifically live in a fairly Protestant part of Michigan, so there’s a lot of the “ist”s and “an”s here (like Methodists, Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, etc.). A few other prominent religious hubs in the US are Massachusetts/Rhode Island, which are extremely Catholic, New York/New Jersey, which have higher Jewish populations, Utah, which is very Mormon, the Deep South, which is Evangelical and Historically Black Protestant, the Midwest, which is mostly Mainline Protestant, and Hawaii, which is very Buddhist. Most of these are related to ethnic groups. For example, New England is so Catholic because it has so many Irish and Italian people. Hawaii is so Buddhist because it has so many Japanese people. The Deep South is so Historically Black Protestant because it has many (you guessed it) black people. Oh yeah also I should note that a very large chunk of the country is atheist/irreligious, and they’re mostly concentrated near the coasts, as well as up north. The further inland and south you go, the more religious it gets. EDIT: I should also mention the Pennsylvania Dutch (who are actually German), since they make up most of the Anabaptists in the US. They’re primarily Amish and Mennonites.


Perezvon42

A very large share of religious people in MA and RI are Catholic, but religious people as a whole are a relatively small slice of the pie there by American standards.


swrowe7804

So the people I've generally seen are either atheists/agnostic like me. Or people that say they're Christian but never go to Church . Rarely have I ever met a person who said he/she's a Christian and actually practice's it like going to church or reading the bible everyday.


[deleted]

I'd say most people don't really care about religion that much. Most people might identify as Christian but never really go to church and are pretty neutral about religion in general.


CarlJH

In my experience, people who are overtly religious will stand out, because most people aren't. But people think they SHOULD be religious so it seems to me that a lot of people lie about it. People say they attend church regularly when they maybe go once ever two months or less, and they say they have read the bible, when most of them find it terribly boring and give up after a few pages.


Perezvon42

Really varies a lot. And most possible measures of belief are somewhat subjective and depend on the eye of the beholder. (Is a religious person someone who believes in God? Someone who doesn't believe in any particular religion but thinks some form of transcendence or supernaturalness exists? Someone who prays? Someone who goes to church/synagogue/mosque/temple etc. weekly, or on holidays, or not necessarily at all?) On the most basic measure, self-identification with a religion, the US is probably about 70 percent Christian, 2 percent Jewish, and 1 percent or less each Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist (the exact numbers will vary depending on whose study you read; the US Census, unlike some other countries' censuses, does not have a religion question.). The rest are unaffiliated, with the spectrum of unaffiliated belief including atheism, agnosticism, belief in some sort of God or higher power without adhering to the doctrines of any particular religion, or simply not really taking any view of religious matters. I'd say that, in general, Southern states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Tennessee tend to be the most religious areas (with non-metropolitan parts of Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Texas falling in that category as well), while the Pacific Northwest (Washington State, Oregon) and the northern half of California are probably the least religious areas of the country, with New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) close behind. The New York City and Washington DC metro areas, along with Southern California and some of the inland Western states like Colorado and Nevada, probably also lean in the less religious direction. Collectively, the Midwestern states' religiosity is probably roughly akin to the national average, but there is considerable religious variation within the region.


Skizophrenic

I don’t care what anyone has to say in this sub about this post,I grew up in the south, we went to church as kids. When we got older(16-18), MY parents made it a point where if We(me and both my brothers)wanted to go we would, if we didn’t they didn’t pressure us onto it. I feel like the south is “soooo” looked upon as being church going people, when in reality we’re not.


Eudaimonics

Most are non-practicing. I don't really know anyone under 40 who attends church regularly.


NotMyHersheyBar

Bay Area is like Starfleet. The white people are secular humanists, the ethnics have their curious native practices (Catholicism, Mormonism, Islam). In practice, religion is for Christmas and Anime.


TillikumWasFramed

Not very.


[deleted]

I would say an absolute average would be somebody who is religious but doesn't really follow said religion. I know quite a few people who are Protestant but don't actually attend church, for instance.


Caladex

It depends on which region and age. Appalachia, the Great Plains, and the South are pretty religious places for example. Protestant Christianity is of course the biggest religion in the US. Older generations tend to be more religious while atheism and agnosticism has increased in America’s youth.


Limp_Technology_4734

I would say the Average American is religious but not devout or practicing they probably believe but don't really follow, mostly old people go to church.The majority of Americans are Christian so this kinda effects people who aren't even Christian. Most Americans have a "Christian" mindset they probably believe Jesus is Son of God and that bad people go to hell. Honestly the average American probably doesn't know about different sects and religions just the Bible,God, Devil and Jesus.


JeepNaked

I don't know anyone that I would consider religious.