In U.S., Far More Support Than Oppose Separation of Church and State
Pew Research Center conducted this survey to help gauge Americans’ views on the relationship between church and state. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that the country shall have no official religion. At the same time, Christians continue to make up a large majority of U.S. adults – despite some rapid decline in recent years – and historians, politicians and religious leaders continue to debate the role of religion in the founders’ vision and of Christianity in the nation’s identity. The survey shows that in U.S., far more support than oppose separation of church and state.
Public Views on the Separation of Church and State
For example, two-thirds of U.S. adults (67%) say the Constitution was written by humans and reflects their vision, not necessarily God’s vision. And a similar share (69%) says the government should never declare any official religion. These findings suggest that the clear majority of Americans do not accept views that would integrate church and state functions.
However, some Americans clearly long for a more avowedly religious and explicitly Christian country, according to a March 2021 Pew Research Center survey. For instance, three-in-ten say public school teachers should be allowed to lead students in Christian prayers, a practice that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional. The following data highlights the distribution of these perspectives:
| Viewpoint on Church and State | Percentage of U.S. Adults |
|---|---|
| Government should never declare any official religion | 69% |
| Constitution was written by humans and reflects their vision | 67% |
| Federal government should stop enforcing separation of church and state | 19% |
| The U.S. Constitution was inspired by God | 18% |
| Federal government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation | 15% |
Partisan and Religious Identification
Politics is a major factor in these views. Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party are far more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to want to secure an official place for Christianity in the national identity. For instance, 58% of Republicans and Republican leaners say the federal government should never declare any religion as the official religion of the United States, while a quarter of Republicans (26%) say that the government should declare the U.S. a Christian nation. By comparison, among Democrats and those who lean toward the Democratic Party, 80% say the government should never declare any official religion, and just 6% want the government to declare the U.S. a Christian nation.
The survey finds that Christians are much more likely than Jewish or religiously unaffiliated Americans to express support for the integration of church and state, with White evangelical Protestants foremost among Christian subgroups in this area. But even among White evangelical Protestants and highly religious Christians, fewer than half say the U.S. should abandon its adherence to the separation of church and state (34% and 31%, respectively) or declare the country a Christian nation (35% and 29%).
Religion’s Role in Politics and Society
U.S. adults are resoundingly clear in their belief that religious institutions should stay out of politics. Nearly two-thirds of Americans in the survey say churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters, while 36% say they should express their views on day-to-day social and political questions. Furthermore, three-quarters of the public expresses the view that churches should not come out in favor of one candidate over another during elections.
At the same time, U.S. adults have a favorable view about the role religious institutions play in American life more broadly – beyond politics. More than half of the public believes that churches and religious organizations do more good than harm in American society, while just one-in-five Americans say religious organizations do more harm than good. Likewise, there are far more U.S. adults who say that religious organizations strengthen morality in society and mostly bring people together than there are who say that religious organizations weaken morality and mostly push people apart.
The Rise of the Religiously Unaffiliated
Over the course of a single generation, the country has gotten a lot less religious. As recently as the early 1990s, less than 10 percent of Americans lacked a formal religious affiliation. Today, however, nearly one in four Americans are religiously unaffiliated. That includes almost 40 percent of liberals — up from 12 percent in 1990, according to the 2018 General Social Survey. Researchers suggest that politics can drive whether you identify with a faith, how strongly you identify with that faith, and how religious you are. Some people on the left are falling away from religion because they see it as so wrapped up with Republican politics.
- The result is that today, most people’s political ideology is more tightly tethered to their religious identity.
- The more liberal you are, the less likely you are to belong to a faith; whereas if you’re conservative, you’re more likely to say you’re religious.
- Since 1990, the share of liberals who never attend religious services has tripled.