Chapter 2: Religious Practices and Experiences
Participation in several traditional forms of religious observance has declined in recent years. For example, the share of Americans who say they attend religious services at least once a week has ticked down by 3 percentage points since 2007, as has the share who say they pray every day. These declines are closely connected to […]
Appendix A: Methodology
The centerpiece of Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study is a nationally representative telephone survey conducted June 4-Sept. 30, 2014, among a sample of 35,071 U.S. adults. Approximately 60% of the interviews were conducted with respondents reached on cellphones (n=21,160) and 40% were completed on landlines (n=13,911). A minimum of 300 interviews were conducted […]
U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious
There has been a modest drop in overall rates of belief in God and participation in religious practices. But religiously affiliated Americans are as observant as before.
Chapter 4: Social and Political Attitudes
Overall, more Americans now identify as politically liberal than did so when the Religious Landscape Study was first conducted, while fewer U.S. adults identify themselves as political moderates. Religious “nones” are more likely than those in many Christian traditions to describe themselves as politically liberal; indeed, 39% of religious “nones” now describe themselves as liberals. […]
Chapter 1: Importance of Religion and Religious Beliefs
While religion remains important in the lives of most Americans, the 2014 Religious Landscape Study finds that Americans as a whole have become somewhat less religious in recent years by certain traditional measures of religious commitment. For instance, fewer U.S. adults now say religion is very important in their lives than did so seven years […]
Appendix B: Glossary
Note: All terms are defined as they relate to Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Annulment A ruling by an ecclesiastical tribunal that a marriage once thought to be valid by the Catholic Church fell short of at least one of the essential elements required for marriage, and therefore was never valid. Communion The act through […]