4 In 10 Americans Say Religion Is Very Important To Them

A The Economist/YouGov poll found that forty percent of Americans consider religion “very important” to their lives. Nearly 30 percent said they “never attend” religious services.

The results of this poll, which was conducted from May 6-9 among 1,500 U.S. adults with a margin of error of +-2.8 percent, mirror those of other recent surveys that show the devaluation of religion in a country that continues to value self-gratification as well as secular progressivism.

Only 39 percent of Americans said religion was “very important” to their lives in a Wall Street Journal/NORC survey released in March.

The highest percentage was 28 percent when asked “How often do you attend religious service, excluding weddings and funerals?” “Seldom” and a “once a weekly” each received 18%, while “a few time a year” got 11%, “once or two times a month” got 8 percent and “don’t knows” had 3 percent.

Intriguingly, 30 percent of respondents to the poll report that they pray “several” times per day. Thirteen percent said they only pray once or twice a week. Twelve percent reported “rarely”, and sixteen percent “never”.

According to a poll, 36 percent of respondents identify themselves as “born-again” or evangelical Christians while 64 percent don’t. Twenty percent of respondents, or about one fifth, claim to have no religion at all.

Protestantism (28%) and Roman Catholicism (25%) were the two religions that people most often identified with. Atheists, agnostics, and “something else” each accounted for five percent. No other religion was higher than five percent.

Recent polls have shown that Americans believe there is a decline in religious influence within the United States and they place less importance on their children’s religious beliefs. In the U.S., church attendance has declined and the belief in God in general has decreased over the last few years. A poll conducted this year revealed that the majority of Americans believe faith is an important part of their lives. However, they are concerned “that too many religious institutions today are watering down their traditional beliefs or abandoning them.”