The vast majority of Americans maintain a belief in God, although the percentage of those abandoning specific religions remains at a historic level, a new survey suggests.
At the same time, most respondents expressed at least some faith in God, including 50 percent who said they have no doubts about God’s existence, 16 percent who said they “believe in God but have doubts,” and 6 percent who said they “believe in God sometimes.”
In addition, the rate of respondents saying they believe in “some higher power” continued its gradual upward trajectory since 2000, reaching a new high of 14 percent. This pushed the overall percentage of Americans who believe in a higher power to 86 percent.
That percentage is consistent with responses to a question on how spiritual participants considered themselves to be. Overall, 84 percent of respondents identified as at least somewhat spiritual, while only 15 percent said they weren’t spiritual at all and 1 percent said they didn’t know.
Interestingly, the percentage of respondents describing themselves as “very spiritual” bounced back to 26 percent last year after taking a dip during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the increase, the figure is still lower than pre-pandemic levels.
In 2021, the survey found that 29 percent of respondents had no religion, a record high. Just 5 percent said the same back in 1972, when the survey was first administered.
People Fear Sharing Religious Views at Work
While a majority of Americans identify as believers or spiritual seekers, most of them fear that even respectfully expressing their beliefs at work could result in negative repercussions.In the survey, released in March, 3 out of 5 respondents said it was “likely or somewhat likely” that respectfully expressing their religious or political views would lead to “negative consequences at work.”
On top of that, 1 in 4 respondents said they knew “someone who [had] experienced negative consequences for respectfully expressing their religious and political viewpoints.”
Other findings of the report suggested that 42 percent of potential job seekers said they were less likely to apply for work at a company that had a work culture that was hostile to their religious or political views, and that 66 percent said their company’s commitment to diversity should include respect for a wide range of religious and political beliefs in and out of the workplace.
“Employees shouldn’t fear that their religious or political views could cost them their job,” said Jeremy Tedesco, an ADF senior counsel. “Yet these survey results show that a significant number of employees do.”
The survey comes amid an ongoing legal battle over the firing of an evangelical Christian U.S. postal worker who refused to deliver Amazon packages on Sundays so that he could observe the Sabbath. The U.S. Supreme Court heard the case this April, with justices weighing in on whether employers must accommodate employees’ religious needs in certain circumstances.
The Freedom at Work survey was conducted from Oct. 7 to Nov. 16, 2022, among approximately 3,000 employed American adults, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
