by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A new poll by Gallup shows that just 30% of Americans attend a religious service every week or nearly every week in 2024, compared to an average of 42% attending every week or nearly every week twenty years ago.
Among the major US religious groups surveyed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) were the most faithful to attend weekly or nearly weekly services, with 67% doing so. Protestant Christians came second, with 44% attending services every week or nearly every week, Gallup said. Muslims and Catholics followed at 38% and 33% respectively.
“Three in 10 Americans say they attend religious services every week (21%) or almost every week (9%), while 11% report attending about once a month and 56% seldom (25%) or never (31%) attend,” Gallup reported.
“Majorities of Jewish, Orthodox, Buddhist and Hindu Americans say they seldom or never attend religious services,” Gallup said.
Gallup noted in particular that young adults are especially unlikely to attend services regularly.
“Specifically, more 18- to 29-year-olds, 35%, say they have no religious preference than identify with any specific faith, such as Protestant/nondenominational Christian (32%) or Catholic (19%). Additionally, young adults, both those with and without a religious preference, are much less likely to attend religious services — 22% attend regularly, eight points below the national average.”
“Church attendance will likely continue to decline in the future, given younger Americans’ weaker attachments to religion,” Gallup noted.
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