Most Americans have a positive view of religion and half believe its decline is bad

Most Americans believe religion is positive though it is also losing its impact on civil society, new polling reveals.

The Pew Research Center released a report declaring 80% of Americans believe religion is losing its influence. Just 18% believe it is gaining influence.

About half (49%) believe the decline in Religion’s influence is bad. 

Most survey participants (57%) had an overall positive view of religion. Just 19% had a negative view.

Additionally, compared to 2020, more people feel at odds with mainstream culture because of their faith. This isn’t surprising, as government harassment of religion has been rising worldwide for decades. 

Nevertheless, not all Americans agree about the role religion should play in civil society.  

Over half of survey participants want the separation of church and state to be enforced, while 57% think the U.S. should promote Christian values or even declare Christianity the nation’s official religion. 

Michael Rotolo, lead author of the report and research associate at Pew, explained people have a broad range of visions for a “Christian nation.”  

“It means things like the general guidance of Christianity and society. It means that people have faith in God broadly,” Rotolo said. “People said things like, a Christian nation means that people believe in something. So that’s what actually inspired us to ask this new question for the first time.”  

The survey found the concept of “Christian nationalism” – which has become a dog whistle for the political left – garnered very little support, with 5% of people having a favorable view of it.  

“Even those who think the United States should be a Christian nation and the Bible should have a great deal of influence on the law,” Rotolo continued, “most of them are reluctant to say that they have a favorable view of Christian nationalism. So there seems to be some negative stigma with the term.”  

But when it comes to America’s highest office, people have been very reluctant to elect a non-religious – or even non-Christian – president.  

According to Pew, Americans agree a president should live a moral life (94%). But few report valuing if the president’s beliefs are the same as their own (37%).  

Nevertheless, neither President Biden nor President Trump are generally viewed as very religious, although they are more likely to be viewed as “somewhat” religious by their own political parties.  

And when it comes to education, there’s an even split among people who think conservatives have gone too far pushing religious values in public schools and people who think liberals have gone too far keeping religious values out of public schools.