Majority of U.S. Catholics Express Favorable View of Pope Francis
Most say Francis represents change in the church. And many say the church should allow priests to marry and let Catholics use birth control.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Patricia Tevington is a Research Associate on Pew Research Center’s Religion and Public Life research team where she is an expert on conducting surveys examining American religion with a focus on Christianity, spirituality and the religiously unaffiliated. She has worked on several surveys exploring U.S. Catholics and their views toward Pope Francis, religiously unaffiliated Americans, Americans’ views of religious groups, and views on America as a Christian nation. She holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.
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9 facts about U.S. Catholics
Catholics are one of the largest religious groups in the United States, outnumbering any single Protestant denomination.
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8 facts about atheists
Around six-in-ten U.S. atheists are men (64%). And seven-in-ten are ages 49 or younger, compared with about half of U.S. adults overall (52%).
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Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe
28% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics or “nothing in particular” when asked about their religion.
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Spirituality Among Americans
Overall, 70% of U.S. adults describe themselves as spiritual in some way, including 22% who are spiritual but not religious. An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (83%) say they believe that people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body. And 81% say there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it.
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Many Americans report interacting with dead relatives in dreams or other ways
46% of Americans report that they’ve been visited by a dead family member in a dream, while 31% report having been visited by dead relatives in some other form.
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Americans Feel More Positive Than Negative About Jews, Mainline Protestants, Catholics
Most U.S. adults are neutral toward several religious groups, though Americans tend to rate their own religious group positively. More than a third of Americans hold unfavorable views of multiple religious groups.
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Growing share of Americans see the Supreme Court as ‘friendly’ toward religion
There has been a jump in the share of U.S. adults who see the Supreme Court as “friendly” toward religion.
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45% of Americans Say U.S. Should Be a ‘Christian Nation’
But they hold differing opinions about what that phrase means, and two-thirds of U.S. adults say churches should keep out of politics.
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A closer look at Americans who believe the U.S. should be a Christian nation
More than eight-in-ten people who say the U.S. should be a Christian nation (86%) are themselves Christian.
