Americans Reject Religion in Record Numbers, Study Shows

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Daily Beast

Updated Dec. 27 2025 4:07AM EST
Published Dec. 26 2025 4:25PM EST


The number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has reached an all-time high, according to a massive running study.

Data from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) shows that 28 percent of Americans identify as “religiously unaffiliated,” up from 16 percent in 2006. A significant fall-off in religious affiliation among younger people has fueled the rise.

PRRI said that its study, which uses data going back to 2006 and has been conducted annually by the institute since 2013, shows that 38 percent of those aged 18 to 29 said in 2024 that they have no religion, up from 32 percent in 2013. Among those aged 30 to 49, 34 percent were religiously unaffiliated, compared to 23 percent in 2013. The findings were first reported by Axios.

PRRI based its study on a random sample of 40,000 adults across the U.S., conducted by Ipsos—a far more meaningful sample than the polls that are used to predict elections.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/americans-reject-religion-in-record-numbers-study-shows/

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Link to Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) REPORT - 2024 PRRI Census of American Religion

[Mz Pip]

1. Not surprising

The way JD Vance rants on about the US being a Christian nation turns a lot of people off. It sounds like he’s advocating for a 21st century version of the Crusades. Charlie Kirk statues everywhere, 10 Commandments mandated in schools and public buildings. CBS fawning over Erika Kirk. Christians claiming to be persecuted for not getting their own way. Yeah, count me out.

[milestogo]

2. Republicans and Catholic priests have ruined Christianity.

There was a time when church leaders didn't tell their flock how to vote. That started to change with Karl Rove and GHWB.

And Catholic priests- with their secret crimes- made Catholics stop trusting the Church. And it isn't just the abuse, but the way it was consistently covered up.

[synni]

6. It actually started in 1980

Ronnie Ray-goon was openly supported by the (IM)Moral Majority.

[Sanity Claws]

7. I was about to add that

I always hated the phrase, Moral Majority. It implies that others are immoral.

[milestogo]

13. That's true.

It started with that and infected the rest. But Karl Rove was the one who told Republicans that some Christians were like sheep and could be easily convinced that voting Republican was the righteous thing to do... even though the values of the party are really antithetical to Christianity.

As long as you hate gays, love guns, and hate women's rights - you're a good Christian. Because Jesus spent so much time talking about these things.

[Martin68]

15. My favorite meme about the Moral Majority is that it was neither.

Nixon's thing was the Silent Majority.

[mwmisses4289]

18. When i lived in the Pacific Northwest

a lot of cars had a bumper sticker that summed it up:

The moral majority is neither.

[UpInArms]

41. James Dobson

and fuck us on your family

[Sector 001]

17. Have you seen the movie Spotlight?

[milestogo]

19. Yes

And I also watched a film about clergy sexual abuse in Ireland, a Catholic country. It was happening all over the world.

[Attilatheblond]

27. On Netflix but 'currently not available in your country'

That church of medieval political control is STILL way too powerful, in this nation where we are supposedly free to practice, or NOT practice, any religion.

Extra weirdness: When I first searched the title on duck duck go, some of the entries were for purchase on Amazon. I closed search tab, opened a new on and entered same search words.Absolutely NO listing of the movie being available on Amazon. Huh? Went to the evil Amazon and put DVD in my cart. Might see if my local library would like it for their movie lending library.

[Sector 001]

38. It's on TubiTV

https://tubitv.com/movies/100041414/spotlight

[Dawson Leery]

36. Never again will I step into

any Evangelical/Mormon/Roman Church.

[ybbor]

3. Swear to god?!

12 years of catholic school, agnostic here. My soon to be 18 year old daughter would probably fit that mold, although she does go to some Jewish holiday services. The only catholic/christian services are funerals.

She’s an amazing kid who works tirelessly to help fundraise and do food drives for the less fortunate. No fear of hell compelling her.

I’m a proud papa! 😀

[Mawspam2]

10. You done good, dad.

[ybbor]

35. ❤️

[surfered]

4. Conservative Christians embracing Trump has consequences

[ProudMNDemocrat]

11. There is NOTHING Christian nor Conservative about following TACO Don.

When I pose this question to Evangelical Christians who follow Trump, I ask them this..."Pray tell me! In what ways does Donald Trump embody the Virtues and Values that Jesus Christ taught in the New Testament?"

All I get are nasty responses or silence. The question basically shuts them up. When they respond nasty to me, I repost the question.

[milestogo]

14. And Jesus said

... described his attempt to seduce a married woman and indicated he might start kissing a woman that he and Bush were about to meet. He added, "I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab 'em by the pussy. You can do anything.

[paleotn]

33. Donnie is merely a means to and end for them to get back on top. Really, they don't give a shit what he does...

as long as he delivers for them. They're that kind of people. Rather unChristian from a Gospels point of view. They much prefer the Old Testament mean god.

[rurallib]

5. It's a start - be nice when those numbers are reversed and more

Methinks the ability to access information on the internet has opened a lot of minds

[ChicagoTeamster]

8. That's part of the reason why the Evangelicals are trying to take over. They're losing members and money.

They want to make Christianity the national religion and people not having a church affiliation will be legally discriminated against to force them to join a church where they will have to tithe "donate". Turning Point was supposed to generate Christian Nationalist youth.

That's also why they want to pass all these laws forcing Xtian indoctrination in schools and defunding public schools and enacting voucher programs to give the money to private Xtian schools. Same with Moms for liberty. They want to avoid teaching the truth about American history especially in relation to the treatment of slaves and native Americans.

Kids aren't going to feel bad about themselves for what they learn in school about what other people did. They're going to point out that they were lied to when they learn the truth in school. These racist parents don't want their kids learning the truth and realizing that they were lied to at home and in school.

A perfect example is the Topeka Kansas Baptist church. Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps church. Fred became a minister after being disbarred as an attorney for attacking the character of a female witness in one of his cases by calling her a jezebel and other insinuations. The little kids who they dragged off to their protests holding their disgusting signs depicting images of sodomy eventually reached college age and stopped going to church. That meant that their parents were no longer considered elders in the church because their adult children weren't baptized members. So they also quit since they had no say in the finances of the church. Fred's grandkids left, his kids quit. He was out and some other grifter took over the church ministry of trying to incite a response with their disgusting protests so that they could sue.

[kerouac2]

9. Maybe religious leaders shouldn't support evil people

Just a thought.

Mega churches and pastors supporting maga and trump does not make religion too attractive.

[Bayard]

12. People seeing examples like trump,

Being held up as a good Christian. They don't want any part of it.

[2na fisherman]

16. Grifters All

It's becoming too obvious that most religious leaders are only in it for the money. The tax exempt status of their churches and related properties make it the preferred home of many Elmer Gantries fleecing their flocks of gullible people. Many flaunt their wealthy lifestyles living in mansions and traveling in jets all paid for by "tithes" to their church. How many televangelist TV shows are on the air presenting sermons which are really thinly veiled sales promotions begging for money so they can keep the grift going? And they justify this barely legal thievery often preaching the "prosperity gospel" which says being filthy rich is god's way of bestowing blessings on the faithful. And you too can be rich if you just believe and pray harder for those blessings. But above all, send your money to them so they can pray for your prosperity while they really make you more impoverished financially and spiritually.

[Sector 001]

22. Did you know that the Catholic Church is one of the largest land owners in the world?

https://www.studycountry.com/wiki/how-much-land-does-the-catholic-church-own-in-the-world

What religion owns the most property in the world?
Roman Catholic Church: 70 million hectares

The largest landowner in the world is not a major oil magnate or a real estate investor. No, it's the Roman Catholic Church.

[2na fisherman]

37. That Much?

I knew it was a lot but that's a lot of land. I wonder how much the other religions own-- Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu holdings? Why don't they all sell it and help the poor? Grifters gotta' grift. And some big religions are always ready to spark the new Crusades and call it a holy war.

[Wednesdays]

20. The Progressives of 125 years ago were spearheaded by the religious

They founded the YMCA, fought for child labor laws, consumer protections, women's suffrage, regulation of big business, ending corruption in government, and a whole bunch of things we still enshrine as progressive ideals. The only tenant I disagree with was their support for temperance and prohibition.

Too bad the religious progressives aren't around today. They started dying out with the start of World War I and the Red Scare of the 1920's.

[tonekat]

21. I feel like the world is full of proof

That there is no god.

[J_William_Ryan]

23. "religiously unaffiliated"

But still religious – still believing in some sort of ‘god,’ that’s the problem.

[Dr. T]

29. Me and a drinking buddy created the Liquidian religion.

We believe that alcohol binds with the evil within and is expelled down the toilet. We're going for tax exempt status so we can write off our bar tabs.

[erronis]

31. Not necessarily. A lot of people don't care. Agnostic or just don't give a shit about religion.

My father told me, when I asked if he was religious said "I haven't had time to think about it."

Basically his way of shrugging off a nonsense question. My mother was a "social" Episcopalian (xmas, easter, church socials, etc.) but "god" was never part of our family conversations.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

24. I haven't rejected religion, ...

... I just haven't been to church in sixty years.

[Sector 001]

25. I wrote this on my Facebook page the other day.

As an atheist, I can say this about Trump. He has done more than anybody to destroy Christianity and religion than any atheist could have.

[TexasBushwhacker]

26. As a lifelong atheist/agnostic, I think what people are rejecting

is ORGANIZED religion, and I can't say I blame them. Between the sexual abuse, the gimme gimme, and the anti-woman and anti-LGBTQI, it's just all so NEGATIVE. I'm not religious, but I've probably read more of the Bible than plenty of card carrying Christians. Jesus said NOTHING about abortion, homosexuality or anti-immigrant nonsense. I have a trans cousin who is a devout Christian and his church accepts him with loving arms, just like Jesus would have done.

[Martin Eden]

28. Many people are turned off by the sheer hypocrisy of rightwing"Christians"

Those holy rolling Trumpers have themselves to blame regarding the growing number of people who want nothing to do with their religion.

[MayReasonRule]

30. Here's To The Ongoing Restoration Of Our Freedoms Through Our Nation's Dissaption Of Delusion And Embrace Of Reason

Our freedoms are Reason's children.

When delusion rules as it does now, our freedoms cease to exist in application.

Our nation's long and sordid history of enshrining malevolent delusion as the rule of law has brought us to today, an Americanized Spanish Inquisition Y'all Qaeda Nazi style.

When the populace embraces reason, they expect reason to rule.

This fuels the second order change our democracy direly needs to survive.

This is great fucking news!!

[2na fisherman]

39. New Pledge of Allegiance

'...one nation under REASON with liberty and justice for all.'

[3Hotdogs]

32. Thank you, Jesus. Now if you could make it 100% non-believers by 2027 ---- or maybe,

just take your favorite Christian, Donald Trump, into your holy embrace....

[Deep State Witch]

34. Mainstream Religion

If they looked at the "others," they would find that they are growing.

[Bluestocking]

40. As a Jew

I am disgusted by the way Israel and the orthodox community have embraced Rump. I have lost total respect for these people. Somehow I ended up on the local Chabad mailing list and everything they send me goes into the recycle bin even the annual Jewish calendar which I actually like but can’t stomach looking at it anymore.

[twodogsbarking]

42. The buildings are nice, and they are all over the place. Missed buying a nice church building a few years ago.

Happy shopping.

[travelingthrulife]

43. Good

[J_William_Ryan]

44. The headline is misleading.

Americans aren’t rejecting religion, they’re rejecting religious affiliation – not the same thing.

Some may claim it’s a distinction without a difference, that organized religion is the problem, not spirituality or a belief system.

But to believe in the supernatural, that there’s some omnipotent deity controlling things is just as problematic.

[wolfie001]

46. This guy just spoke to me yesterday

The flying spaghetti monster himself:
[img][/img]

[wolfie001]

45. Country's in trouble because of religious kooks

I think the 6 conservative clowns on the SC are christo-fascists. Pushing their agenda at every turn. Ruining our country in the name their religion. 3 were there before the fat orange imbecile. Like Cardinals in a conclave. Pathetic.

[angrychair]

47. Religion is a scam

That only fosters hate, ignorance and fear. All religions are the same. No exceptions.

[Vinca]

48. At this point, religion is the root of all evil and it doesn't matter which one you're talking about.

[mdbl]

49. Didn't they talk to the Pastafarians?

[Buddyzbuddy]

50. I think hypocritical zealots might be a deterrent.

[True Dough]

51. And yet

some worship the Orange Idiot. Bonkers!

[duckworth969]

52. Excellent news

[pecosbob]

53. I would posit that it is organized religion in America that is driving away members.

Doubling down on racism, classism and hatred.

[FakeNoose]

57. Yes I agree

I believe that many of us have "private" religious convictions of one kind or another. Most of us were raised to believe in some kind of religion. It's the organized churches and all their failures (already mentioned above) that have turned us off.

I'm a baby-boomer, raised as a Catholic, and I almost never attend church any more. But I don't believe I'll ever join another church, it's just the idea of organized religion that turns me off. Also the anti-liberal politics and sexism that's prevalent in the Catholic Church now, why would anyone want to call themselves a "Christian" anymore?

[NowsTheTime]

54. 2000 years ago religion had some reason about morality, but humanity has learned much since then in understanding

the difference between right and wrong and also about our real history of mans origin....

except when you return the the old testament and cherry pick,

you get a lot of bad ideas......like we have not learned anything about anything is 2000 years

[bucolic_frolic]

55. Most civilizations have had their religions and deities.

Honor to Theodosius I, he had the vision of his times.

[Maninacan]

56. 28%?

I would think it is double that. Maybe because of who i hang out with . i might be biased.

[JustKay]

58. No affiliated, but believers in something

According to the article below (dated January 2024) most of the people who don't have a religious affiliation "believe in God or another higher power, but very few attend any religious service." Unfortunately, churches are full of people.

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/24/1226371734/religious-nones-are-now-the-largest-single-group-in-the-u-s

I go to a United Church of Christ church - very liberal and accepting. Our pastor is black and gay - not easy things to be in Texas!

[rzemanfl]

59. I am close to eight decades ahead of the game.

My father had no religious affiliation. His father came to the Chicago area from Bohemia, and like a majority of the immigrants from that country who settled there, left the church. I remember him saying, "I'll vote for Kennedy even though he's Catholic and I know he wouldn't vote for me because I don't go to church."

At the park near where I lived as a child, in the summer people told bible stories to the kids in the only building that was there at the time. I had to have been six, because I wasn't allowed to cross the street the park was on until then. I took a friend of mine with and we listened to a couple of stories. He was Catholic and his parents forbid him to go again. I remember complaining to my parents, saying "They're just MADE-UP STORIES! "