Logo
Sound journalism, grounded in facts and Biblical truth | Donate

Fading faith

BY THE NUMBERS | The deepening religious recession facing the United States


Illustration by Krieg Barrie

Fading faith
You have {{ remainingArticles }} free {{ counterWords }} remaining. You've read all of your free articles.

Full access isn’t far.

We can’t release more of our sound journalism without a subscription, but we can make it easy for you to come aboard.

Get started for as low as $3.99 per month.

Current WORLD subscribers can log in to access content. Just go to "SIGN IN" at the top right.

LET'S GO

Already a member? Sign in.

64%

The estimated share of Americans who in 2020 identified religiously as Christians according to a recent Pew Research Center report. If trends continue, Pew warns, Christians could make up less than half of the nation’s population within decades.

384,000

The number of religious congregations in the United States according to a 2017 estimate based on the National Congregations Study.

4,500

The number of churches shuttered in 2019—compared with 3,000 started—according to a report last year from Lifeway Research.

47%

The share of Americans who said in 2020 they belonged to a religious congregation, down 20 percentage points from 2000, according to a Gallup survey.

COMMENT BELOW

Please wait while we load the latest comments...

Comments