Beliefs & Practices

Since the establishment of the ATP, the Center has gradually migrated away from telephone polling and toward online survey administration, and since early 2019, the Center has conducted most of its U.S. polling on the ATP. This shift has major implications for the way the Center measures trends in American religion – including those from the Center’s flagship Religious Landscape Studies, which were conducted by phone in 2007 and 2014.

Biden and Trump supporters tell us in their own words about America’s political divisions

U.S. Hispanic teens are more likely than U.S. teens overall to identify as Catholic and say it’s necessary to believe in God to be moral.

While teens in the United States take after their parents religiously in many ways, they stand out in some others.

American adolescents often participate at parents’ behest, and tend to be less religious in more personal, private ways.

Most U.S. adults say that they expect to go back to attending religious services in person as often as they did before the outbreak.

Black and Hispanic worshippers are less likely than their white counterparts to say they have gone to a house of worship recently.

Few regular worshippers say their congregations are operating normally, and most support the precautions being taken.

A median of 45% across 34 surveyed countries say it is necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values. However, public opinion on this question, as well as the role of God, prayer and religion varies by country, region and economic development.

Six-in-ten black adults say it is important for houses of worship to address “political topics such as immigration and race relations.”