The percentage of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives has been relatively stable in recent years, though it appears to be lower than it was in the 2007 and 2014 Religious Landscape Studies.
Today, about four-in-ten Americans say religion is very important to them. That’s what we’ve found both in the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) and in other surveys we have conducted since 2021.47
In contrast, more than half of U.S. adults said religion was very important in their lives in 2007 (56%) and 2014 (53%).
Some of this decline reflects the growth of religiously unaffiliated Americans: Adults who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” rarely say religion is very important to them personally.
The decline also may be partly due to a “mode effect,” as Pew Research Center has changed the way it conducts surveys. Unlike the 2007 and 2014 landscape studies, which were conducted by telephone, the new RLS was administered primarily online and on paper. The Center’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS), repeated annually since 2020, also is conducted online and by paper.
A companion study conducted alongside the new RLS suggests that people are somewhat more inclined to say religion is very important in their lives when speaking to a live interviewer over the telephone than when reading questions by themselves and responding online or on paper. This aligns with social scientists’ findings that people taking surveys sometimes give more socially desirable answers when talking with another person, perhaps unconsciously leaning toward the answers they think the other person expects or wants to hear. The size and direction of this “mode effect” can vary, depending on the question.48
On the other hand, the percentage of Americans who say religion is very important in their lives was already slipping before we transitioned to online and paper surveys, and the mode effect on this question does not appear to be big enough to account for the entire decline since 2014.
The 2023-24 RLS also asked respondents about the importance of the Bible in their lives. While most Christians say the Bible is either extremely important or very important, most adults in other U.S. religious groups say the Bible is not too important or not at all important.
Read on for more details about how specific groups answer questions about the importance of religion and the importance of the Bible.
Religion’s importance
Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults say religion is very important or somewhat important in their lives. But there are sharp differences across religious groups.
Among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (widely known as Mormons), members of historically Black Protestant denominations, and evangelical Protestants, roughly seven-in-ten say religion is very important to them personally.
Fewer than half of mainline Protestants and Catholics say religion is very important to them.
Most U.S. Muslims (60%) say religion is very important in their lives, while Buddhists and Hindus are more likely to say religion is somewhat important than to say it is very important.
Jewish Americans are among the most likely of the religiously affiliated groups studied to say religion is not too important or not at all important in their lives – though 27% say it is very important.
Most people who are religiously unaffiliated say religion is not important in their lives, including 98% of atheists who say it is not too important or not at all important.
The Bible’s importance
Overall, 44% of U.S. adults say the Bible is extremely important or very important in their lives, while 19% say the Bible is somewhat important, and 37% say the Bible is not too important or not at all important.49
A majority of U.S. Christians say the Bible is extremely important or very important in their lives, but there are large differences across Christian subgroups.
The vast majority of members of historically Black Protestant denominations, evangelical Protestants, and Latter-day Saints say the Bible is extremely or very important in their lives. Fewer than half of mainline Protestants and Catholics say this.
Most Americans who identify with non-Christian religions say the Bible is not too important or not at all important to them personally, though roughly one-quarter of Jews (22%) and Muslims (25%) say the Bible is extremely or very important in their lives.
Relatively few religiously unaffiliated adults (10%) say the Bible is extremely or very important in their lives. This modest share comes almost exclusively from people who say their religion is “nothing in particular,” rather than from atheists or agnostics.
This question was not asked in previous RLS surveys, so we are not able to show trends over time.
