Study: Virginia is becoming less Christian
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Fewer Virginians are attending church or identifying as Christian, per new 2023-24 Pew Research Center data.
The big picture: "This is a broad-based social change," says Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research at the Pew Research Center.
- "We've had rising shares of people who don't identify with any religion — so called 'nones' — and declining shares who identify as Christian, in all parts of the country, in all parts of the population, by ethnicity and race, among both men and women, and among people at all levels of the educational spectrum," he says about the survey findings.
Caveat: What researchers call a "secular surge" has plateaued in the last four years.
By the numbers: 62% of Virginia residents identified as Christian in 2024, according to Pew's Religious Landscape Study. That's down from 73% in 2014.
- Meanwhile, 28% of residents say they are not affiliated with a religion, up from 20% in 2014.
- The number of Jewish Virginians is around 2%, up from 1% on 2014.
- Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu Virginians remained relatively flat at around 1% each.
Fun fact: A quarter of Virginians who identify as Christian are Evangelical Protestant, the largest Christian denomination sub-sect in the state, followed by Mainline Protestant, how 14% of Christian Virginians worship.
Zoom out: Nationally, 29% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, up from 16% in 2007, according to Pew.
- And 7% of U.S. adults identify with other religions, up from 5% in 2007.
Between the lines: A significant portion of U.S. adults (35%) have switched religion since childhood, according to the study.
What we're hearing: "It's not surprising," Penny Edgell, professor in the sociology department at University of Minnesota, tells Axios.
- "I think if you're more progressive, you might look at religion and say that the mainstream religious institutions don't reflect my values," particularly when it comes to topics like LGBTQ+ inclusion, she says.
Case in point: Fewer self-described liberals say they're Christian (37% — down from 62% in 2007) than are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew data.
- There's been a much smaller decline among self-described conservatives: from 89% identifying as Christian to 82%.