39 Percent in US Have Strong Religious Affiliation

Thirty-nine percent (39 percent) of Americans retain a strong religious affiliation. Contrary to recent studies of declining religious participation in the nation, Indiana University’s Landon Schnabel and Harvard University’s Sean Bock found that this number has remained steady reaching back at least to 1989.[1]

Consistent with other data, the researchers found an increase in the number of people with no religious affiliation over time. However, rather than an increase in secularization, this reflected a decline in the number of people with only a loose religious affiliation.

In a similar trend, Schnabel and Bock found that the number of people who believe the Bible is literally true has remained constant over time.

Also, the number of people who pray several times a day has actually increased over time.

Footnotes:

Schnabel, Landon, and Sean Bock. 2017. “The Persistent and Exceptional Intensity of American Religion: A Response to Recent Research.” Sociological Science 4: 686-700

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.​

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.