Fewer adult St. Louisans are identifying as Christians, according to a recent national religious study.
Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study shows that 62% of adults who live in the St. Louis metro area call themselves Christians, down from 75% in 2014. Adults in the area who do not identify with any religious affiliation increased by 10% over the last decade. The religious landscape in St. Louis is on par with national trends.
People are practicing religion differently from years before, said Rachel Lindsey, associate professor of theology at St. Louis University.
“People have always been living their faith and their convictions in various ways,” she said. “Using technology to innovate religion is not a new thing, but it's new in the ways that we are doing it now.”
The religious survey examines religious identities, beliefs and practices of adults across the U.S. The 2023-24 data provides the religious characteristics of 36,000 respondents from 34 metro areas. Pew Research Center also produced Religious Landscape Studies in 2007 and 2014.
The study comprises various Christian faith groups, including evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, historically Black Protestants, Catholics, Latter-day Saints, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other Christians. St. Louisans identify the most with Catholic and evangelical Protestant groups, at 22% and 21%, respectively. Every Christian faith group decreased by a small percentage except evangelical Protestants, up 1 percentage point from 2014.
The decrease in the number of people identifying as Christians cannot be attributed to one source in St. Louis. However, Lindsay said the demographics of St. Louis are changing, and more immigrants are moving into the community who do not practice Christianity. In addition, she said a much younger generation has different ideologies about social and political issues that some Christian traditions shy away from teaching about.
“I think it's a compelling argument that religion in the United States is caught up with all the other things that are happening in the U.S. with politics and culture,” she said. “It's really disingenuous to separate out religion as if it's untouched by these other things.”
The survey provides charts and tables with percentages of adults in the metro area on some social and political views like abortion, same-sex marriage, environmental regulation and whether belief in God is needed for morality.
It also looks at belief in heaven and hell, the importance of the Bible, reading scripture, the importance of religion to a family when growing up and religious attendance.
In 2014, 30% of St. Louis-area adults attended religious services at least once a week, and 31% of adults seldom or never attended services. The latest survey shows that 26% of people attend services weekly, and 50% of adults do not attend any religious services.
Black churches see the largest declines
The historically Black Protestant faith group, which includes Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Holiness and nondenominational traditions, saw the largest decline in St. Louisans who identify with that faith group. Ten years ago, 10% of the area identified with a faith tradition in the Black Protestant group. Recent data shows it is down to 5%.
Membership at Pleasant Green Baptist Church in north St. Louis’ Lewis Place neighborhood has been steady over the past few years. The predominantly African American church has about 300 members and mostly comprises middle-age and older parishioners. However, the church is working to implement new ways to worship to retain and attract new and younger members.
The church used to be where people came to build relationships, attend local events and communicate outside of work all throughout the week, said Aaron Letcher, senior pastor of Pleasant Green Baptist Church.
“The church is no longer what we call a family priority,” he said. “I'm not sure about the numbers when it comes to secularism, but just from what my experience is just by being in the barber shops or in the streets, I see that people have more of a concern with family brunch more so than church.”
He also pointed out that church attendance overall has been lower over the past few years because of the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. However, churches are starting to revive themselves by using social media and modern technology to make services convenient.
“We have to engage with things as simple as having media in the sacred space, like screens where people can read the scripture if they did not bring the Bible and provide QR codes to give,” he said. “Paradigms for ministry must change.”
Letcher also added that Christianity is getting a bad reputation, and it could be another reason why there is a slight decline in all Christian faith groups across the country.
“There's this misrepresentation of Christianity where it is oppressive, where it is misogynistic, it seeks to satisfy patriotism, and people are fed up with that,” he said.
He recommends that Black ministers expose their churches to womanist, liberation and Black theology to help them look at Christianity through a lens of support by reaffirming its members of their heritage as people of color.
Letcher believes the major reason for the decline of historically Black Protestant faith groups is because of particular church social and political views.
“People now are shifting away from just a church, just to be having church. They want to be identified with a faith that addresses social issues, social injustices,” Letcher said. “The newer generation wants to see the issues addressed now, and I think we have to shift to do ministry, to include what Jesus was called to do, which was social justice.”
