U.S., Africa, Latin America Home To World’s Most Committed Christians, Pew Research Center Study Shows

Christianity is the world’s largest religion, but not all Christians share the same level of commitment. According to a new Pew Research Center Study, American, African, and Latin American Christians are the most committed Christians in the world.

For the study, the Pew Research Center analyzed 84 countries with large Christian populations. In 35 of 84 analyzed countries, at least two-thirds of all surveyed Christians consider religion to be very important in their lives. Interestingly, all but three of these 35 countries are in Latin America or Africa. The United States, Malaysia, and the Philippines are the three exceptions.

When it comes to prayer frequency, and worship attendance, Pew’s research shows that the numbers are highest in Africa, with over 75 percent of surveyed African Christians considering religion to be a very important part of their lives. Predictably, worship attendance and prayer frequency is at its lowest among Christians in Western Europe.

These findings, Pew noted, show that Christianity is “moving southward,” toward developing countries, evaporating from developed countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, Christianity is rapidly growing.

Unlike in Western Europe, in the United States, more than two-thirds of Christians say religion is very important to them. In other developed countries, these numbers are significantly lower, Pew noted. For instance, only 11 percent of British Christians, and only 12 percent of German Christians, say religion is very important in their lives.

“The United States remains an outlier among wealthy countries in terms of its relatively high levels of religious commitment.”

When it comes to prayer frequency, 69 percent of American Christians pray daily, and 47 percent of American Christians attend church at least once a week. In contrast, less than 10 percent of Austrian, German, and Swiss Christians pray daily. Similarly, less than 10 percent of European Christians attend church once a week. This too, Pew noted, makes America an outlier.

In every African country Pew surveyed, more than 60 percent of Christians say they attend church at least once a week. When it comes to Latin America, two-thirds of Guatemalan, Honduran, and El Salvadorian Christians report weekly church attendance.

According to Gallup, 49 percent of American adults identify as Protestant, 23 percent of Americans identify as Catholic, and 2 percent of Americans identify as Mormon. Thirty seven percent of Americans can be classified as “highly religious,” according to the same survey.

Highly religious Americans are more likely to approve of President Donald Trump.

“The basic pattern of association between Republican partisan identity and higher levels of religiosity continued in 2017, with the associated finding that Trump does better among those who are highly religious than among those who are less religious,” Gallup concluded.