Study finds more Americans with positive view of religion

The Pew Research Center released a study this week reporting more adults with positive views of religion’s role in society and citing religion as a growing influence on American life. Data collected from February 2024 to February 2025 showed an overall positive shift in the way adults viewed religion’s role in society, according to the report. About 60% of adults expressed positive views of religion’s influence on American life, with about 40% expressing either negative or neutral opinions.

About 30% of U.S. adults felt religion was gaining influence in American life, marking a 15-year high, Pew added. While the majority of Americans viewed religion’s role as declining, that majority number dropped nearly 15% between 2024 and 2025. The nonpartisan fact tank compared data from the past five years with two data sets collected in 2024 and 2025.

Just under 60% of U.S. adults reported their religious beliefs conflicted with mainstream culture, according to the study. About 25% of adults agreed that only one religion was true, compared to nearly 50% reporting that many religions may be true.

What did the study have to say about Christianity specifically?

• About 48% of Americans reported a decrease in Christian influence on American life.

• Nearly 30% of adults reported a growing Christian influence, and about 25% reported little change in Christian influence.

• About 30% of Christians cited loving one’s country as essential to their religion, while nearly 50% felt loving one's country was important but not essential.

• About 85% of Christians identified honesty, kindness, and belief in God as essential facets of their religion.

• 20% of American Christians identified regular church attendance as an unimportant quality of their religious affiliation.

Dig deeper: Read my previous report on a study naming Gen Z as the lowest-scoring generation for church engagement.