Number of Americans who believe in God drops to all-time low, liberals have the least faith: Gallup poll

The number of Americans who believe in God has hit an all-time low, according to a new Gallup poll.

There are 81% of Americans who believe in God – the lowest percentage in the poll that has been conducted by Gallup since 1944. There were 17% of American adults who said they do not believe in any God and 2% who said they were unsure.

The latest poll shows the number of American adults who believe in God is down 6% from the 2017 survey.

Between the years 1953 and 1967, 98% of U.S. adults believed in God. By 2011, 92% had religious faith in God.

Just 68% of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 believe in God, according to the survey that was released on Friday.

Based on regions, the South polled the highest at 86% versus the East being the lowest at 78%. There was only a 2% difference between those from cities, suburbs, and rural areas.

The Gallup Values and Beliefs poll of more than 1,000 U.S. adults that was conducted between May 2 and 22 found there was a stark ideological divide regarding belief in God between political party affiliations.

The survey said that 94% of conservatives and 92% of Republicans had the highest belief in God, while only 62% of liberals and 72% of Democrats believe in a higher power. Independents polled at 81%.

When asked if God hears prayers and intervenes, 56% of conservatives said God can help those who pray versus only 25% of liberals who had faith.

Another Gallup poll of more than 6,117 Americans taken between 2018-2020 found that only 47% of Americans belong to a church, synagogue, or mosque. This is the lowest ever recorded in the poll that has been conducted regularly since 1937, and it was not a majority for the first time. House of worship membership had been over 71% from 1937 until the mid-1980s, according to Gallup.

A 2021 poll of 2,000 U.S. adults by Arizona Christian University discovered that more millennials believe in guidance from horoscopes (35%) than those who believe that the universal purpose for all people is to know, love, and serve God with all heart, mind, strength, and soul (19%). More millennials believe in astrology than the idea that the universe was designed and created, and is sustained by God (30%), and that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, just creator of the universe (31%).

"Gen X and the millennials have solidified dramatic changes in the nation’s central beliefs and lifestyles," said George Barna, director of research for ASU’s Cultural Research Center. "From a nationwide perspective, the Christian church has done shockingly little to push back. The result is a culture in which core institutions — including churches — and basic ways of life are continually being radically redefined."

Barna – a sociologist who has been studying national religious patterns for more than four decades – added, "Millennials are leading the way toward the new worldview emphases in America. The research reveals that their rhetoric is often inconsistent with their behavior. Because people do what they believe, if behavior does not coincide with stated beliefs we know that people do not truly hold those beliefs."

"More importantly, the millennial generation in particular, seems committed to living without God, without the Bible, and without Christian churches as foundations in either their personal life or within American society," Barna said.