A Gallup poll recently released questioned Americans from a variety of faith backgrounds about their religious practices. The poll found a marked decrease in the frequency with which they attend religious services compared to previous years.
From 2021-23, only three in 10 Americans, or 30%, said they attended religious services “almost every week” or more, according to the poll. That’s down from similar polls conducted for the years 2011-13, when 38%t of respondents said the same, and for 2000-02, when 42% reported attendance of almost every week or more.
How does the data break down by faith or denomination? The poll examined religious service attendance of Americans of several faiths, including Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons and even atheists and agnostics.
Mormons reported the highest attendance during the period between 2021-23, with 67% reporting attendance of “almost every week” or more, but it was still an 8% point drop over the past decade. Protestants came in second at 44% attendance of “almost every week” or more, down from 49% since 2011-13. Catholics were at 33% from 2021-23.
Unsurprisingly, atheists and agnostics registered the lowest attendance of religious services, with only 3% saying they attended “almost every week” or more.
Does Gallup make any predictions? Gallup says church attendance “will likely continue to decline in the future, given younger Americans’ weaker attachments to religion.” The poll cites data showing that the largest share of 18- to 29-year-olds, 35%, say they have no religious preference. It adds that only 22% of young adults, including those with or without a religious preference, attend religious services regularly. That’s 8 percentage points below the national average.
This story originally appeared in WORLD. © 2024, reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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I’m South African, 63 years old, and been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all my life. Baptized into the Church in 1969…. during the height of the apartheid era. The Church consistently taught its members to love all God’s children but never ever promoted sedition and lawlessness. Race relations in the Church today in South Africa is magnificent. The bulk of our homegrown missionary force is 95% plus black African. Their faith is strong and the Church University BYU reaches out to them to provide higher schooling opportunities after mission. The Church is growing exponentially throughout Africa and it is deeply loved for what it brings in terms of faith, hope and real, measurable progress. Politicians and social agitators are largely discredited after bringing African people into misery, ongoing poverty and hopelessness. African people are joining the Church in large numbers, especially in West Africa and DRC. Weekly Church attendance is high here too, just like in beautiful Florida USA. This Church and the doctrines of restored Christianity are USA’s greatest export to Africa. Politicians come and go, most are not kindly remembered, but the Church is here to stay and it just keeps adding quality to our lives. God bless America for what it gave us in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gary Human, East London, South Africa.