Belief in God Declines
by Mike James
In the past, I have written blogs pertaining to survey data about Christian belief in the United States (U.S.) and the world. Much of the data has shown a decline in belief over the years.
I recently learned of another survey with an interesting question. Rather than just addressing belief in general, this question dealt with the depth of belief. The recent survey data pertains to research conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. NORC is one of the largest independent social research organizations in the U.S.
In a 2022 survey, NORC reported that not quite 50 percent of Americans say they have no doubt about the existence of God. In 2008, this same survey topped out at just over 60 percent, having no doubt in the existence of God. A 12 percent drop-off is quite significant in only twelve years. The Bible teaches we must have faith that God is real to begin to have a right relationship with God (Hebrews 11:6).
What's interesting about this survey is the specificity of the question. A Gallup poll from 2022 found that 81 percent of Americans said they believed in God. But there were no qualifiers on how deep that belief was. The first four surveys Gallup did with this question in the 1950s and 1960s found 98 percent of Americans believed in God.
Another Gallup poll conducted in May 2023 found only 74 percent of Americans believed in God. So, no matter how we look at it, belief in God is trending downward in the U.S. Some religious scholars consider NORC the gold standard for surveys about faith. In another survey question, the General Social Survey found 29 percent of Americans claimed no religion in 2021; this is up from 23 percent in 2018 and only 5 percent in 1972.
Mainline Protestant denominations (Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc.) are declining at a faster rate than Evangelicals. In 1975, about 30 percent of Americans were mainline Protestant, while about 21 percent were Evangelicals. By 1983 there were more Evangelicals than Mainline. By 1993 Evangelicals reached their peak at just below 30 percent. They have since dropped just a few percentage points, while mainline groups are down to about 10 percent of the U.S. population.
Since the 1970s, the number of Americans who identify with Protestant denominations has gone down from about 1 in 3 to about 1 in 10. The nation's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), fell from 13,680,493 in 2021 to 13,223,122 last year, according to the Annual Church Profile released this May by Lifeway Christian Resources. The total number of SBC churches in 2022 came in at 46,614, which is down from 47,198 the previous year. Church attendance increased more than 5 percent to 3,804,665. Still, that is well below the SBC's pre-pandemic average of 5.3 million in 2019.
The decline in religion in the U.S. does not compare with other prominent countries. In one global comparison, Pew Research found about 19 percent of Americans claim no religion. Those figures were much higher in Europe, with Germany at 26 percent, Britain at 31 percent, and France at 32 percent. China came in at 52 percent and Japan at 60 percent! Russia only has 15 percent claiming no religion, and India only 1 percent.
What about the Church of God community? Without hard data at my disposal, the anecdotal information I am aware of leads me to believe we are all declining also. For some, this causes worry and concern. People are worried because they think if we continue to lose our numbers as Christians, our culture and way of life may change more and more. That may be true, but what does Scripture tell us? Philippians 4:6-7 and Matthew 6:25-34 tell us not to worry about things. If things continue to get worse and worse, we may be closer to the return of Christ when everything will get better.
Remember, it's important not to put your hope in your country, your religion, culture, or anything in this world. The ultimate hope for you, me, humanity, and the world is only found in the coming Kingdom of God completely and fully reigning on this earth. Thy kingdom come!
Sources: "Belief in God in U.S. Dips to 81%, A New Low," by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup, June 17, 2022, https://news.gallup.com/poll/393737/belief-god-dips-new-low.aspx
"Southern Baptists Lost Nearly Half a Million Members Last Year," by David Roach, Christianity Today, May 12, 2023, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2023/may/southern-baptist-membership-drop-baptism-rebound-sbc.html
"Mainline Protestants Are Still Declining, But That's Not Good News For Evangelicals," by Ryan P. Burge, Christianity Today, July 13, 2021, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/july/mainline-protestant-evangelical-decline-survey-us-nones.html
Norc.org
"Does God Exist? Half Say No," from thehill.com, 22 May 2023 in Midnight Call, July 2023
"Belief in God the Devil, Falls to New Low," by Julia Shapero, July 20, 2023, The Hill, https://www.yahoo.com/news/belief-god-devil-falls-low-164300978.html