The number of Americans attending religious services and prioritizing faith is dropping. The societal impact is likely to be significant.

March 30, 2021, 9:38 AM CDT
By Steve Benen
Nearly halfway through Donald Trump's term, then-Vice President Mike Pence delivered a commencement at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan of notable significance in Republican politics, with a specific message about religion.

Faith in America, Pence said, is becoming more robust. "I still believe with all my heart that faith in America is rising," he declared, adding, "Religion in America isn't receding -- just the opposite. Faith is gaining new life with every passing day." Pence added that even though the American population has grown considerably over the decades, the nation's religiosity "has remained remarkably consistent."

The former vice president will likely be disappointed by the latest evidence to the contrary. New York's Ed Kilgore took a closer look at the latest national Gallup survey.

"It's Holy Week for Christians and Passover for Jews; there are also two Hindu holidays this week. But as Gallup reports, the percentage of Americans who belong to houses of worship where such days in the religious calendar are observed has been rapidly falling in this century. For the first time since Gallup began compiling religious membership statistics in 1937 (when 73 percent of Americans belonged to a church, synagogue, mosque, or temple), a minority — only 47 percent — now say they belong to some sort of congregation."