Mapped: Religious service attendance in Texas
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Easter is this weekend, and it's a safe bet a lot of Texans will be at church.
The big picture: Texans go to religious services more than people in most other states.
- Among Texas adults, 40%, or more than 9 million people, say they never or seldom attend church or religious services. That's compared to the national average of 49%, according to a Household Pulse Survey conducted Feb. 6-March 4.
- Other sunbelt states are largely in line with the Lone Star State, and Mississippi (32%), Alabama (36%) and Louisiana (37%) have the country's lowest share of adults who say they don't attend church.
Why it matters: More than three-quarters of Americans say religion's role in public life is shrinking, per a recent Pew Research Center survey — the highest level since the group first started tracking such sentiment in 2001.
Zoom out: Religious service attendance nationally has been dropping for decades, per Gallup, driven largely by "the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation — 9% in 2000-2003 versus 21% in 2021-2023."
- Vermont (75%), New Hampshire (66%) and Maine (66%) have the highest share of adults who say they never or seldom attend church or religious services.
Friction point: Nearly half of U.S. adults say they feel at least "some" tension between their religious beliefs and mainstream culture, Pew found.
- That's up from 42% in 2020.
A separate Gallup survey published this week found that Latter-day Saints are the only religious group wherein a majority say they attend services weekly, at 54%.
- 30% of Protestants say they attend services weekly, compared to 28% of Muslims, 23% of Catholics and 16% of Jews.
What we're watching: How many state politicians will post "He is risen" on social media.