An American may believe in God, pray occasionally, feel a deep sense of spiritual wonder and still rarely attend a religious service.
That combination is becoming an important part of understanding religion in the United States.
The Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study found that religious and spiritual beliefs remain widespread, even though participation in some traditional religious practices has declined substantially over the past two decades.
The findings challenge a simple assumption: that people who stop attending religious services necessarily stop believing in anything spiritual.
For Christian families, however, the research also raises a different question.
What happens when faith becomes something people privately acknowledge but rarely practice with others?
Belief Hasn’t Disappeared From American Life
Pew’s Religious Landscape Study surveyed more than 36,000 U.S. adults and examined religious identity, beliefs, practices and experiences.
The research found that a substantial majority of Americans continue to hold religious or spiritual beliefs.
Many believe in God or a universal spirit, believe there is a reality beyond the natural world or report spiritual experiences such as awe, gratitude and a sense of connection to something larger than themselves.
Those beliefs do not all represent Christianity.
They encompass a wide variety of religious and spiritual perspectives.
That distinction matters because believing that something exists beyond the physical world is not the same as affirming the central teachings of the Christian faith.
Nevertheless, the findings suggest that declining participation in organized religion shouldn’t automatically be interpreted as the disappearance of spiritual interest.
Religious Identity and Religious Practice Can Move in Different Directions
Someone may identify as Christian because of personal conviction, family upbringing or cultural background.
Another person may attend church frequently while still wrestling with important questions about belief.
A third may consider themselves spiritual but not religious.
These distinctions help explain why surveys measuring religious identity can produce different results from surveys measuring prayer, worship attendance or Scripture reading.
Pew’s research found that the decline in the share of Americans identifying as Christian has slowed and may have leveled off in recent years.
At the same time, some forms of religious practice remain less common than they were in previous decades.
The data does not establish that every person who identifies with a religion practices it regularly.
Nor does it tell us whether someone who rarely attends services has no meaningful spiritual life.
It shows that identity, belief and practice are related but distinct dimensions of religious life.
James Warned Against Faith That Exists Only in Words
The New Testament addresses the relationship between belief and action directly.
James 2:17 teaches that faith without works is dead.
James isn’t arguing that people can earn salvation through good behavior.
His concern is that a profession of faith disconnected from action fails to demonstrate the living faith it claims to represent.
That teaching challenges Christians to examine more than whether they agree with certain religious statements.
Does faith influence how they treat others?
Does it shape their decisions?
Does it lead to compassion, generosity, integrity and obedience?
A person can sincerely affirm the importance of forgiveness while struggling to forgive.
Someone can believe prayer matters while rarely making time to pray.
The biblical invitation is not merely to acknowledge truth but to respond to it.
Private Belief and Shared Worship Serve Different Purposes
Christianity includes deeply personal dimensions.
Prayer can happen privately.
Scripture can be read alone.
Repentance and faith involve individual responses to God.
But the New Testament also describes a community of believers who worship, learn, serve and care for one another.
Acts 2:42 portrays the early Christians devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer.
These weren’t simply private convictions held by individuals who happened to live near one another.
They were shared practices.
That doesn’t mean every church community is healthy or that attending services automatically produces spiritual maturity.
It means Christian faith has a communal dimension that cannot be fully expressed through private belief alone.
Families May Need to Explain Why They Practice What They Believe
Children often notice the gap between what adults say matters and what they consistently do.
If a family describes faith as central but treats worship, prayer and Scripture as optional activities with little connection to daily life, children may struggle to understand what makes those beliefs important.
Parents don’t need to demonstrate perfect consistency.
But they can explain the purpose behind their practices.
Why do we gather with other Christians?
Why do we read Scripture?
Why do we serve people in need?
Why do we pray when we’re worried?
Those explanations help children understand that religious practices are intended to express convictions rather than simply preserve family traditions.
Belief Should Lead to Reflection, Not Assumptions About Others
The Pew findings shouldn’t be used to judge the sincerity of people who attend church infrequently.
Illness, disability, caregiving responsibilities, work schedules and difficult experiences with religious institutions can all affect participation.
And religious attendance alone cannot reveal the condition of someone’s heart.
The research is most useful when it encourages thoughtful questions rather than quick judgments.
For Christian families, one such question is whether their practices reflect what they say they believe.
The answer may involve making more room for prayer, reconnecting with a congregation, studying Scripture or finding ways to serve others.
Something Beyond Belief Alone
The Religious Landscape Study paints a complex picture of American spirituality.
Religious identification has changed.
Some practices have declined.
Yet belief in spiritual realities remains widespread.
For Christians, the central issue is not whether spirituality remains culturally popular.
It is whether faith is shaping how people live.
Jesus described discipleship as following Him, not simply acknowledging His existence.
That calling reaches beyond a survey response.
It reaches into homes, marriages, workplaces, churches and relationships.
And it asks a question that remains relevant regardless of national religious trends:
If we believe something is true, how is that belief changing the way we live?
Source: Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study Executive Summary, February 26, 2025. Scripture: James 2:14–17; Acts 2:42; Luke 9:23.
