{"id":17847,"date":"2023-06-06T14:18:56","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=17847"},"modified":"2023-06-06T14:18:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:18:56","slug":"new-poll-shows-that-only-half-of-us-adults-fully-affirm-the-existence-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/06\/new-poll-shows-that-only-half-of-us-adults-fully-affirm-the-existence-of-god","title":{"rendered":"New Poll Shows That Only Half of US Adults Fully Affirm the Existence of God"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new\u00a0<\/span>poll<\/span><\/a>\u00a0shows that fewer Americans are sure of the existence of God than ever before. The poll, released by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, is part of NORC\u2019s General Social Survey (GSS), which has tracked societal trends and changes in the US since 1972. The survey was conducted through in-person interviews, phone interviews, and Internet surveys. The researchers did note that changes in methodology during the pandemic could have resulted in some changes of opinion. Overall, 3,544 surveys were completed from May 4 to Dec. 20, as well as 601 additional completed surveys to increase minority representation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest survey found that just under 50 percent of Americans are sure of the existence of God, responding that they \u201cknow God exists and have no doubts.\u201d That number had been nearly 66 percent in 1993 and 60 percent in 2008. Sixteen percent said they \u201cbelieve in God but have doubts,\u201d while 14 percent stated belief in a higher power. The number of those who did not believe in God stayed steady at seven percent. That number of complete nonbelievers has been steadily rising since 2014. The poll also found that 34 percent of Americans never go to church, the highest that number has ever been since the GSS began tracking. Only four percent stated they attended religious services nearly every week, and five percent stated they attended more than once a week. Thirteen percent said they attended once a year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ren\u00e9 Bautista, GSS director, noted that the past three years since the COVID-19 epidemic have been extremely volatile to American beliefs. \u201cThe past three years were a period of great trial and change for the United States. Understanding how these times affected Americans\u2019 thoughts, beliefs, and opinions is critical to understanding social change,\u201d Bautista said. There were also changes in the religiosity of respondents, with 32 percent identifying as \u201cmoderately religious,\u201d down from 38 percent in 2018. Fourteen percent of respondents identified as \u201cvery religious.\u201d The number of those who are \u201cnot religious\u201d also did drop slightly to 29 percent, down from 32 percent in 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Confidence in organized religion has also been dropping precipitously. Forty-five percent of respondents stated they had \u201ca great deal of confidence\u201d in organized religion in 1974. That number has dropped to 15 percent in 2022. Thirty-three percent stated they had \u201chardly any confidence.\u201d A 2019\u00a0<\/span>Gallup<\/span><\/a>\u00a0article listed several reasons for the drop in confidence, including sexual abuses revealed in the Catholic church as well as allegations within the Southern Baptists Convention (SBC). The article also noted the politicization of faith, including the split between many evangelicals on how to respond to Donald Trump. \u201cMost broadly of all,\u201d concluded Gallup, \u201cit\u2019s possible that our measurement of confidence in organized religion only reflects a slice of confidence in \u2018religion\u2019 per se. We are seeing the continuing trend toward more ad hoc religious entities and ways of worshipping that eschew what is traditional. Thus, the drop in confidence in \u2018the church or organized religion\u2019 does not necessarily equate to a drop in confidence in religion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new\u00a0poll\u00a0shows that fewer Americans are sure of the existence of God than ever before. The poll, released by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, is part of NORC\u2019s General Social Survey (GSS), which has tracked societal trends and changes in the US since 1972. The survey was conducted through…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":17058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Poll Shows That Only Half of US Adults Fully Affirm the Existence of God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new study gives insight on the number of US adults who believe in God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Poll Shows That Only Half of US Adults Fully Affirm the Existence of God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new study gives insight on the number of US adults who believe in God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/06\/new-poll-shows-that-only-half-of-us-adults-fully-affirm-the-existence-of-god\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-06T18:18:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/03\/Reading-Bible_credit-Lightstock-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Poll Shows That Only Half of US Adults Fully Affirm the Existence of God","description":"A new study gives insight on the number of US 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