Americans More Skeptical of the God Concept Than Ever

1
480

Belief in God in the United States, probably in the Western world generally, is at an all-time low.  Between 1944 and 2011,the belief in God in the United States remained above 90%. In 2017, it dropped to 87%.

Now, with changes in the religious and theistic landscape of American society, we are watching the erosion of theistic belief on the order of millions of people per year. The number is now 81%.          

Atheists, agnostics, and the like, have been and continue to be an increasing demographic in the United States. The most likely groups to witness this decline are Democrats at 72%, young adults at 68%, and liberals at 62%.

Interestingly, no change appears to have happened to married adults and conservatives. These reflect more dramatic changes in the attendance at religious services in the United States. Less than 50% of Americans are explicit members of a church, mosque, or synagogue, and 36% having confidence in organized religion.

Most American citizens have doubts about the existence of God, while 19% have no belief in God. These shifts appear driven mostly by the young.

With files from Gallup

1 COMMENT

  1. I would suggest that a change in perception is needed to this argument. For while ‘most Americans’ may have their ‘doubts’, I suspect that those doubts are more about the efficacy of religious claims than about God; in the sense that existing religious traditions offer the only medium by which mankind has tried to comprehend God. And that mediun is of course a wholly human theological project. so the question becomes this: If all is theological what has been revealed? Probably nothing more than the extremes of vanity and hubris that are part and parcel to the human condition.

Leave a Reply