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How religious are we? National survey results

Published in RINewsToday.com on April 21, 2025

According to an April 17 article in the National Catholic Register (NCR), outreach, Eucharistic revival, immigration—and perhaps even the Holy Spirit—are sparking spiritual renewal, not just in the United States, but also abroad.

NCR reports that France expects a surge in adult baptisms this year, estimated at more than 10,000. Meanwhile, England is witnessing a quiet Catholic revival, primarily driven by young male converts.

Closer to home, the Rhode Island Catholic, the newspaper of the Diocese of Providence, reported in its latest issue that “Boston Archbishop Richard G. Henning, S.T.D., was greeted by one of the largest crowds in years for a Chrismas Mass at the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. The church was packed with worshippers from across the diocese, and Archbishop Henning described being buoyed by the joyful spirit that began for him during his time as shepherd of the Diocese of Providence.”

What does research say about America’s Catholics?

According to a March 4, 2025 article “10 Facts About U.S. Catholics,” posted on the Pew Research Center’s (PRS) website, around 20% of U.S. adults identify as Catholic, translating to approximately 53 million Catholic adults nationwide.

Here are a few facts detailed in the article…

The share of Hispanic Catholics continues to rise. While since the year 2007, the percentage of white Catholics has dropped by 10 percentage points, the share of Hispanic Catholics has increased by 7 percentage points. In fact, 29% of U.S. Catholics are immigrants, or children of immigrants.

Demographically, Catholics tend to skew older: nearly 58% are age 50 or older. Regionally, 29% reside in the South, 26% in the Northeast, 25% in the West, and 20% in the Midwest.

In terms of education, 35% of U.S. Catholics are college graduates, while 27% have some college experience but no degree, and 38% have a high school diploma or less. Religiously, about three-in-ten Catholics attend Mass weekly or more, while 51% pray daily, and 44% say religion is very important in their lives.

Taking a look at America’s religious communities

PRS’s latest 393 page RLS report, “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off”, released on Feb. 26, 2025, suggests that the steady decline in Christian affiliation may be stabilizing. As of 2025, 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian—a 9-point drop since 2014 and 16 points down from 2007—but that figure has held relatively stable between 60% and 64% over the past five years.

This latest RLS is the third major national study conducted by PRC over the past 17 years, each surveying around 36,908 randomly selected respondents. Since the U.S. Census Bureau does not collect religious data, the PRC’s work represents the largest ongoing national survey on religion and spirituality, providing insights into all 50 states, D.C., and 34 of the largest metropolitan areas.

The report, released February 26, 2025, also highlights trends in other faiths. While still in the single digits, the number of Americans identifying with non-Christian religions is growing:

  • 1.7% are Jewish
  • 1.2% are Muslim
  • 1.1% are Buddhist
  • 0.9% are Hindu

Meanwhile, 29% of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, identifying as atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular.” This group—often called the NONES — has grown rapidly in previous decades but appears to be plateauing.

Despite this shift, spiritual belief remains widespread:

  • 86% believe in a soul or spirit
  • 83% believe in God or a universal spirit
  • 79% believe in something spiritual beyond the natural world
  • 70% believe in an afterlife (heaven, hell, or both)
  • 92% hold at least one of these spiritual beliefs

Still, the PRC’s RLS warns that signs point to potential future declines in religious affiliation, especially among younger Americans. The study found that only 46% of adults aged 18–24 identify as Christian, compared to 80% of those aged 74 and older. Younger adults are also less likely to pray daily (27% vs. 58%), less likely to attend monthly religious services (25% vs. 49%), and more likely to be religiously unaffiliated (43% vs. 13%).

In the Pew Research study of 2015, it was found, as it hhas been for many years, that Rhode Island is far-and-away the most Catholic state in the country, with 42 percent of Rhode Islanders consider themselves Catholic. Three states are tied for second place at 34 percent: Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Mexico.

Religion and Age

Older Americans continue to form the majority of many Christian denominations:

  • 64% of mainline Protestants
  • 57% of Catholics
  • 54% of evangelicals
    are age 50 or older.

By contrast, Muslims are among the youngest religious groups in the U.S., with three-quarters under the age of 50, and one-third younger than 30.

Among the religiously unaffiliated, about 70% are under 50, compared to 44% among the religiously affiliated, says the RLS.

The median age of U.S. Christians has climbed from 46 in 2007 to 55 in 2024, a trend mirrored across nearly all Christian subgroups. In contrast, the median age of the religiously unaffiliated and those in non-Christian religions has remained relatively stable since 2007.

When respondents were asked how their personal religiousness had changed over their lifetime:

  • 44% reported no significant change,
  • 29% said they had become less religious,
  • 28% said they had become more religious.

The 2023–2024 RLS (The Religious Landscape Study) was conducted in English and Spanish from July 17, 2023, to March 4, 2024, among a nationally representative sample of 36,908 respondents. The survey has a margin of error of ±0.8 percentage points and a response rate of 20%.

This research was made possible through support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc., Templeton Religion Trust, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

To read the full report, visit: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/02/PR_2025.02.26_religious-landscape-study_report.pdf.

COVID-19 Key Issue for Older Voters

Pubished in the Pawtucket Times on November 2, 2020

With Tuesday’s presidential election, hopefully most voters will have reviewed the policy and political positions of President Donald J. Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden.  Throughout the months of this heated political campaign, especially during the two debates and at the town meetings each candidate held on the same evening, their positions diverged sharply on major issues, specifically the economy, immigration, foreign policy, global warming, abortion and COVID-19. In the final stretch of the presidential campaign, winning the war against COVID-19 has quickly become the top issue of voters. 

Over the months, Trump, 74, has barnstormed throughout the country, especially in battleground states, hoping to capture enough electoral votes to win a second term on Nov. 3.  While states reduce the size of gatherings to reduce the spread of COVID-19, throughout the campaign Trump’s rallies have continued to bring thousands of supporters together, with many flaunting local and state coronavirus-related crowd restrictions by not wearing masks or social distancing.  

However, Biden, 77, is always seen wearing a mask, urging his supporters at online and drive-in events to support his candidacy.  At those events, the former vice president called Trump rallies “super-spreader events,” and he stressed the importance of following the advice of public health and medical experts as to preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Differing Views on COVID-19

The 2020 presidential campaign has been overshadowed by the COVID 19 pandemic, with 9 million confirmed cases, 227,000 Americans dying from the coronavirus and an economic downturn forcing more than 31 million people to file for unemployment. During his rallies, Trump claimed “the nation has turned the corner,” calling for the country to “return to normalcy” even as COVID 19 hot spots were popping up across the nation.  Trump also promised the development of a vaccine and distribution after the election and treatment regimens.  Lately, he has suggested that physicians and hospitals are just inflating the number of COVID-19 deaths for profit, drawing the ire of the American Medical Association.

At an Oct. 18 Nevada rally, Trump charged that if Biden is elected there will be more coronavirus pandemic lockdowns because “he’ll listen to the scientists.” The president charged that will result “in a massive depression.”

In stark contrast, Biden countered Trump’s call for normalcy and his rosy assessment of a COVID-19 vaccine release by stating, “We’re about to go into a dark winter…He [has no clear plan, and there’s no prospect that a vaccine is going to be available for the majority of the American people before the middle of next year.”

 Oftentimes, Trump’s messaging of the importance of wearing a mask has not been clear, often times contradicting the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention and the White House COVID-19 Task Force.  “I was okay with the masks.  I was good with it, but I’ve heard very different stories on masks,” he said during his town hall on NBC on Oct. 15.   The president opposes a mandate requiring the wearing of masks and favors leaving this decision to state governors and local leaders.

Turning a Deaf Ear to Public Health Experts

As COVID-19 spreads like wildfire across the nation, Trump and many of his supporters at his large campaign gatherings and even some GOP lawmakers continue to not wear masks or practice social distancing to stop the spread of the disease, their actions ignoring the warnings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House COVID-19 Task Force.

According to an Oct. 12 CNN tweet, “Dr. Fauci says Pres. Trump resuming in-person rallies is “asking for trouble” and “now is… a worse time to do that because when you look at what’s going on in the United States it’s really very troublesome. A number of states, right now, are having increase in test positivity.”

During an interview with CNBC on Oct. 28, Reuters reported, that Dr. Fauci stated, “We are in a very different trajectory.  We’re going in the wrong direction,” noting the COVID-19 cases are increasing in 47 states and hospitals are being overwhelmed by these patients.”

“If things do not change,” Dr. Fauci warned, “If they continue on the course we’re on, there’s gonna be a whole lot of pain in this country with regard to additional cases and hospitalizations and deaths.”

Now researchers are beginning to shed light on Trump’s large rally gatherings and the spread of the COVID-19 among the supporters who attended the events.

Zach Nayer, a resident at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, and a colleague reviewed the number of new COVID-19 cases for the 14 days before and after each Trump rally from late June to a Sept. 25 Newport News event, and published their findings on Oct. 16 on the health news site STAT.

According to the researchers, the spikes in COVID-19 cases occurred in seven of the 14 cities and townships where rallies were held: Tulsa, Oklahoma; Phoenix; Old Forge, Pa.; Bemidji and Mankato in Minnesota; and Oshkosh and Weston, Wis.

Meanwhile on Oct. 30, Stanford researchers, studying 18 Trump rallies (between June 20 and Sept. 22) concluded that those large events resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and likely caused more than 700 deaths among attendees and their close contacts.

No End in Sight

Don’t expect the COVID-19 pandemic to end soon as the number of those infected and deaths continue to spiral out of control.  

According to the COVID Tracking Project, COVID-19 cases increased by 97,080 on Oct. 31, by far the largest one-day jump since the beginning of the pandemic last March, with Midwestern states leading a wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths across the nation just before the Tuesday’s presidential election.  Experts say that those statistics refutes Trumps charges that the number of COVID 19 cases is growing due to increased testing. 

America’s oldest seniors have lived through the 1918 flu pandemic, the stock market crash of 1929, the Great Depression and World War II. Now they, along with aging Baby Boomers, face the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.  Among adults, the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 increases with age. According to AARP, 95 percent of the people across the nation that have died of COVID-19 were 50 and older even though most of the coronavirus cases have been reported in younger than 50.

Before older voters cast their ballots they must consider which presidential candidate’s leadership style can marshal the nation’s resources and devise the best strategy to combat COVID-19 and stop its spread. 

Do we reopen the nation, opening schools and businesses or do we consider lockdowns if recommended by the nation’s public health and medical experts?  Do we consider a “national mask mandate” or do we just leave it up to state governors to decide whether to implement an order requiring people to wear them in public? 

Your vote matters. For you older voters, it just might save your life.

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