By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – A prominent U.S. based think tank says the years long decline of Christianity in the United States has ended, amid reports of “revival” gatherings at campuses across the nation.
Pew Research Center began conducting its Religious Landscape study in 2007 as Christianity in the U.S. faced a steady and precipitous decline, with those identifying as “Christian” decreasing from 78 percent in 2007 to 62 percent in 2024.
However, this hemorrhaging appears to have halted. The Pew Research Center’s latest Religious Landscape Study found that the share of U.S. adults identifying as Christian has remained relatively stable since 2019, hovering between 60 percent and 64 percent.
Some 62 percent of adults currently describe themselves as Christians, according to the latest survey conducted from July 2023 to March 2024.
It comes at a time of renewed interest in the Christian faith among students, Worthy News documented.
Thousands of students gather at college campuses nationwide for worship, prayer, and baptisms.
Organizers say the movement, fueled by various campus groups, has seen unprecedented attendance and commitments to faith.
POWERFUL EXPERIENCE
Cale Matlock, a student at the University of Arkansas, described the experience this week as powerful. “It was awesome, just having 10,000 people that all love Jesus and are worshipping God,” Matlock told the U.S.-based Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).
However the Pew Research Center suggested that despite these recent developments young adults in general are still present “less religious” than those of older generations.
Devoted Christians have argued that this may be a positive development as personal faith in Christ as expressed by the students at revival meetings has nothing to do with religion.
“It is inevitable that older generations will decline in size as their members gradually die,” the researchers wrote in their report. “We also know that the younger cohorts succeeding them are much less religious. This means that, for lasting stability to take hold in the U.S. religious landscape, something would need to change,” the Pew Research Center added.
At the same time, “the religiously unaffiliated” share of 29 percent appeared to have stabilized in recent years after a long period of sustained growth.
The latest survey marks the third in the Pew Research Center’s series of Religious Landscape studies.
The nonpartisan think tank started the project in 2007, surveying more than 35,000 people across all 50 states about their religious affiliations, beliefs, practices, and social and political views.
MORE DATA
The second study was conducted in 2014.
To fill in the gaps between studies, the center incorporated annual data from the random-digit-dialing phone surveys it conducted until 2019 and the National Public Opinion Reference Survey it has administered since.
A breakdown of the survey’s Christian respondents shows most of those questioned (40 percent) identified as Protestants, followed by Catholics at 19 percent.
Up to five percent identified with other religions, including 2 percent who were Jewish, while Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus represented 1 percent each.
The report was published after U.S. President Donald J. Trump made clear he wanted the Christian faith to play a more prominent part in societies.
He created a new White House Faith Office led by prosperity-teaching Pastor Paula White-Cain to establish a Justice Department task force to root out anti-Christian bias.
He has also vowed to create a Presidential Commission on Religious Liberty.
MORE FAITH
At the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, Trump lamented the decline of faith in the United States and called on the nation to “bring God back” into its life.
“We have to bring religion back,” he told lawmakers on Capitol Hill. “We have to bring it back much stronger. It’s one of the biggest problems that we’ve had over the last fairly long period of time.”
He has stressed that surviving an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally in July 2024 reinforced his belief in God.
Reliving that moment at a prayer breakfast, he noted that if he had not turned his head at the last moment, the bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear likely would have killed him.
“God did that,” Trump said of his miraculous survival, adding that the experience “changed something” in him.
“I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it.”
Yet the survey shows that not all Americans share his enthusiasm. As for the unaffiliated, 5 percent were atheists, 6 percent were agnostics, and 19 percent identified as “nothing in particular.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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