Religious faith decline parallels national decline

Over the last several decades, a growing number of Americans have abandoned their faith — usually Christianity — to join the ranks of the nonreligious. These “Nones” describe themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular.” Some may shrug at this, but you don’t have to be religious to know that this shift doesn’t bode well for a nation founded on the principles of self-government.

For most of the 20th century, 70% of Americans belonged to a house of worship. As recently as the early 1990s, nearly 90% of Americans said they were Christian. But by 2020, Gallup found a mere 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, mosque or synagogue.

By 2021, Pew Research found nearly one-third of U.S. adults were not affiliated with any religion. This share of Nones was 10 percentage points higher than a decade earlier. The share of Christians fell from 75% to 63% over the period. In 2007, there were about five Christians for every one None. Now that ratio is about 2-to-1.