White Evangelicals among the best religious groups at retaining members as ‘nones’ grow: study

March 29, 2024

The Christian Post reports that a new study shows white evangelical Christians are among the best at retaining members in a time when the number of Americans who identify as unaffiliated is growing.

The Public Religion Research Institute released a report this week on Religious Change In America that charts a number of trends among different faith groups in the U.S. The data was gathered by surveying 5,627 adults online between November 16 and December 7, 2023.

The report found that while nearly 1 in 5 Americans (18%) became religiously unaffiliated in 2023, white evangelicals managed to retain 76% of their members. According to the Christian Post, this marks a significant improvement compared to 2016 when white evangelicals were keeping just 69% of their members.

Other religious groups that did well at maintaining their membership were black protestants (82%) and Jewish Americans (77%). The study showed white mainline protestants continued to lose more member than they replaced and at higher rates than other protestants.

The PRRI survey also showed Catholics losing more members than they gained with a slightly higher retention rate for Hispanic Catholics than for white Catholics.

According to PRRI, the number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated rose from 21% in 2013 to 26% in 2023. PRRI stated that the religiously unaffiliated was the “only major religious category experiencing growth.”

Photo: top, Credit: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association