The US has its first Pope, and a renewed openness to religion
May 30, 2025
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Ian Explains
On Ian Explains, host Ian Bremmer makes complex issues about global politics understandable. Ian Explains is a weekly segment on GZERO WORLD with Ian Bremmer, GZERO's weekly program about global news and current affairs.
Ian Bremmer The US has experienced a steady, long-term decline religiousness, with Gallup showing less than half of Americans belong to a house of worship today. But spirituality in the US remains surprisingly resilient.
Bremmer unpacks America's longstanding slide into secularism contrasted with a recent renewed interest in religion. Drawing from two key surveys, Bremmer contrasts Gallup's data on religion’s erosion since the 1960s with a massive Pew study that suggests a recent leveling-off in Christian affiliation and consistent rates of prayer and service attendance over the past few years.
“Americans today are as spiritual as they’ve ever been,” Bremmer notes, even if fewer of them are going to church. With political polarization and social isolation on the rise, he explores whether religion might be on the brink of a cultural comeback—not just as dogma, but as a renewed search for meaning and connection.
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