Most American Jews say they rarely or never pray, new poll finds
The proportion of Jews that rarely if ever pray is far higher than among other religious communities — and on the rise
Rabbi David Kalb, center, leads a crowd of Jewish Deadheads in prayer at Citi Field’s Jackie Robinson Rotunda on June 21, 2023. (Courtesy)
(JTA) — The proportion of American Jews who pray on any regular basis is down sharply from a decade ago, according to a new poll of American religion by the Pew Research Center.
In 2014, 45% of Jewish adults chose “seldom/never” to describe their prayer frequency. When Pew asked the question again in 2023 and 2024, the proportion was 58%. The increase exceeds the polls’ margins of error — 5% for Jews in this year’s study — meaning that it is considered statistically significant.
The poll also found that fewer American Jews say religion is important in their lives.
The findings are in line with anecdotal reports from Jewish institutions, which beyond the country’s Orthodox minority are largely struggling to engage and retain Jews. Many are seeking to capitalize on a so-called “surge” in feelings of Jewish affinity in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a subsequent spike in antisemitic incidents.
The proportion of Jews that hardly if ever pray is far higher than among other religious communities. For Muslim Americans, the corresponding figure was 18%, while for evangelical Christians it was 7%. Among religious groups, only followers of the New Age movement had a larger proportion of people who seldom or never pray, at 62%.
The Pew survey’s most prominent finding is that a longtime decline in Christian affiliation in the United States appears to have stopped.
About Jews, it also found that:
- 31% say they are Republicans or lean Republican — in line with what polls showed after the 2024 presidential election.
- 90% of American Jews identify as white — about the same as a decade ago, and lower than what some advocates for Jews of color have argued.
- Jews remain the largest non-Christian religious minority in the United States, making up 1.7% of the population.
About 3% of U.S. adults identify as Jewish for reasons other than religion, including because they are married to Jews, or have Jewish parents but now identify with other religions. Half of the people in this segment identify as Christians, in keeping with an emerging dynamic that at times has confounded American Jewish institutions.
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