Americans are increasingly minimizing the role and influence of God in their lives—with a minority of only 40% who believe He exists or influences human lives.
As a result, fewer American adults put God at the center of their lives, view their relationship with Him as important, or rely on Him for daily guidance, according to the latest findings from researcher Dr. George Barna and the Cultural Research Center based on the American Worldview Inventory 2025.
This shift removing God from the center of American life is being seen inside the church, with the role of God becoming less important to people of faith. But the findings also indicate this shift is bringing a dramatic loss of reliance on God among Americans generally.
In fact, among all adults in the nation, only 16% say God is the most important element of their life. Fewer than one-third (31%) claim God is actively involved in every moment of their life; 9% contend they have an intimate and interactive spiritual relationship with God, including constant two-way communication with Him; and only 14% say He has total influence on their life today, such that their life and choices constantly reflect His influence.
These latest findings follow on the heels of a blockbuster report released in February revealing that while 71% of adults believe in the existence of one or more gods or spiritual authorities, far fewer said they believe in the existence and influence of Jesus Christ (59%) or the God of the Bible (40%). Barely half of all adults (54%) said they worship or follow Jesus Christ with only one-third (34%) saying they worship or follow the God of the Bible.
That earlier report also identified more than a dozen other deities that Americans presently believe in and worship, ranging from Mary, Braham, and Satan to Allah, Mother Earth, the Triple Goddess, and the Universe. At the same time, three out of 10 adults do not believe in any kind of spiritual beings or authorities.
The deterioration of belief in the God of the Bible is dramatically affecting the role that God plays in the lives of those 40% who still believe He exists and affects people’s lives, according to this second of a dozen worldview-related research reports that will be released by Barna and the CRC this year.
The Current Role of God in Our Lives
Most Americans do not believe in the existence or influence of the God of the Bible. Currently, just 40% believe He exists and affects human lives. Of that minority of Americans who accept the existence or influence of God, the findings show that they express the following perspectives:
- About eight out of 10 (79%) said that the God of the Bible is either the single most important element in their life, or an extremely or very important element.
Here’s how that breaks down. Among qualified respondents (those who believe that God exists and affects human lives), 38% said God is the most important element of their life. That was followed by 23% who said He is extremely important and 18% who cited God as being very important in their life. One out of seven adults (14%) described Him as somewhat important in their life, with 5% saying God is either not too or not at all important in their life, and the final 3% noting that His importance varies by their circumstances.
- About three out of four (72%) said the God of the Bible is actively involved in every moment of their life.
Adults who were significantly more likely than the average to say God is actively involved in their life included Integrated Disciples (99%), adults who are highly active in their faith (95%), people who believe absolute moral truth exists and is impervious to conditions (92%), theologically-identified born-again Christians (85%), those who read the Bible at least weekly (85%), and individuals who regularly attend either a Pentecostal (87%) or evangelical church (81%).
Roughly two-thirds (65%) portrayed their relationship with the God of the Bible as a close spiritual relationship, although it is not necessarily interactive and constant.
Overall, just 20% of the God-believing adults said they have an intimate and interactive spiritual relationship with Him. Just less than one-half of the God-believing adults (45%) said they have a close relationship with Him, i.e. they pray to Him often and trust Him to do what is right and best for them.
The rest of the God-believers were divided among those who described their relationship with Him as “at arms-length (11%); those who believe in Him and His capabilities but do not have any kind of personal or interactive relationship with Him; and those who don’t know what it means to have a relationship or personal connection with Him.
- Some two-thirds (66%) described the God of the Bible as having “a lot” of influence on them and that He often guides their life choices.
That two-thirds was evenly split between people who claimed God has “total influence” on their life, such that their life choices constantly reflect His influence, and those who credit Him with “a lot of influence,” such that their life “often” reflects His guidance.
Most of the remaining one-third of those who believe God exists and has influence said He has “some influence” on their life (19%). Relatively few said God has “not much” influence although they are aware of times when He does exert such direction (6%); people who say God has “no identifiable or conscious influence” on them (4%); and those who said they don’t know or that such influence seems inconsistent (5%).
- Asked to indicate what the God of the Bible provides to them, a majority said He supplies hope (72%), comfort (71%), love (70%), peace (65%), guidance (64%), compassion (60%), joy (60%), and mercy (58%).
- One of the most telling discoveries from the research is the slate of elements that God-believing people identified as not provided to them by God. Those attributes included: boundaries for their life; their core identity; power; responsibilities; and security.
- Among all the population subgroups studied, Integrated Disciples, adults who possess a biblical worldview, were the segment who stood out as being closest to God and most in harmony with the biblical teachings about the nature of a relationship with God.
- Catholics and Protestants were substantially different from each other in their descriptions of how their life intersects with the God of the Bible. Protestants were significantly more likely to indicate that God is actively involved in their life; has complete influence over their decision-making; is the most important entity in their life; and that He provides them with boundaries, guidance, hope, identity, joy, love, mercy, miracles, opportunities, peace, power, purpose, and security.
- A number of faith-based segments were consistently above average in their adoption of biblical ideas and personal practices regarding the role of God in their life. Those groups included: Integrated Disciples; adults who believe absolute moral truth exists and is not defined by feelings or circumstances; those who read the Bible every week; adults who are theologically-identified born-again Christians; and those who attend a church that is considered to be charismatic/Pentecostal or evangelical.
- The groups consistently least likely to have a biblical notion of the role of God in their life, or to engage in biblical practices related to God, included: adults who are not active in their religious faith; those who are not associated with a religious faith (even though they believe the God of the Bible exists and is influential); people who do not read the Bible, or attend religious services, or worship God in a typical week; members of Gen Z; and people who reject the existence of absolute moral truth.
Among the people who recognize the existence and influence of the God of the Bible, nearly nine out 10 (88%) describe themselves as Christians. Yet, within that segment, massive numbers resist developing intimacy with Him in favor of other lifestyle preferences.
The study indicates that among those who accept the existence and influence of God, more than 65 million do not characterize their relationship with their Creator-King as the most important relationship in their life; some 30 million do not accept the notion that He is actively involved in every aspect of their life; more than 80 million recognize that they do not have an intimate and interactive relationship with Him; and more than 70 million admit that they do not permit Him to have total influence on their life and daily choices.
As horrifying as those numbers are, Barna pointed out that those are the numbers of people who are most committed to the existence and authority of God. They do not include the majority of Americans, a group that has acknowledged their outright dismissal of God’s existence or His engagement with humanity.
The Bigger Picture
Dr. George Barna, who directed the study through the Cultural Research Center, noted that the numbers shared in the earlier sections of this report mask the severity of the impasse in the connection between Americans and the God of the Bible.
The data reported earlier in this report are based upon the minority of people who believe the God of the Bible exists and has influence. However, if those numbers are recalculated to include people who do not believe that He exists and influences lives—and, therefore, do not perceive Him to play a role in their lives— then the outcomes are strikingly different.
For instance, among all adults in the nation:
- Just 16% say God is the most important element of their life
- Less than one-third (31%) claim God is actively involved in every moment of their life
- Only 9% contend they have an intimate and interactive spiritual relationship with God, including constant two-way communication with Him
- A mere 14% say He has total influence on their life today, such that their life and choices constantly reflect His influence
Further, when exploring 16 of the positive benefits that God supplies to those who connect with Him, not a single one of them was claimed as part of God’s provision to their life by even one out of three Americans!
Taken in total, these present a shocking profile for a nation where 66% of all adults label themselves “Christian,” nearly two out of three adults attend Christians churches during the year, and where more than three-quarters of the country’s Christian pastors claim that their church is doing an “excellent” or “very good” job in ministry.
Reflections on America’s God Relationship
With the nation experiencing multiple waves of hardship and challenges in recent years, Barna suggested that it is impossible to separate those difficult times from the nation’s divorce with the God of the Bible.
“God created the world, He gave us life, and He remains King of that domain,” the researcher commented. “Yet, despite two centuries of irrefutable blessings to America, over the last three decades significant and growing numbers of Americans have questioned or outright rejected His authority and His life principles.”
“Choices have consequences, and the hardships we have endured and will continue to face are connected to our ongoing and increasingly bold spiritual affairs with false gods and the elevation of self, he explained.”
Barna noted that he was especially struck by what Americans say they do not receive from God.
“The fact that more than three out of four people who believe God exists and is influential in their lives nevertheless do not get their identity from their relationship with Him explains a lot. The fact that two out of three people who believe in God’s existence and influence do not believe their connection to Him comes with responsibilities, delivers additional insight,” Barna noted.
“Discovering that fewer than one out of five of the people who acknowledge God’s existence and influence are aware of any life boundaries that God provides to them explains even more,” he continued. “Finding that two-thirds of those who believe He exists and is influential nevertheless say that God has not given them power to serve Him and pursue His agenda reveals even more about the deceptions and weakness of American Christianity. And the list of startling insights into a Christian faith that bears little resemblance to biblical teaching and to God’s intent could continue.”
Barna, the author of numerous bestsellers about the spiritual contours of the United States, admitted how disconcerting it has been to dig deeply into the survey data regarding people’s views of and response to God.
“When you put all of these insights together and understand who we have fashioned the God of the Bible to be—a deity reconfigured into our own image in order to fit within our personal comfort zone—the trials and tribulations, as well as the multifaceted demise of the nation, come into sharper focus,” he lamented.
“It seems obvious that political, economic, legal, or institutional improvements are not what America needs most desperately today. Those cultural arenas merely provide prescriptions that address the symptoms, but not the disease,” Barna explained.
“The more time you spend thinking about what this research tells us, the more you are likely to conclude that nothing short of sweeping national repentance and spiritual renewal can save America from itself,” he said.
About the American Worldview Inventory
The data in this report are part of the American Worldview Inventory (AWVI), an annual nationwide survey that examines a wide variety of aspects of the worldview of U.S. adults. The current worldview research was generated in two waves of surveys fielded during the first quarter of 2025. American Worldview Inventory 2025 is the sixth of the annual surveys.
The data reported in this report were collected via the first of those two waves, conducted in January 1420, 2025, among a national, demographically-representative sample of 2,100 adults (age 18 or older). The survey contained 82 questions and the average duration of the survey experience for respondents was 18 minutes. The sample was constructed from among the members of a national research panel managed by Braun Research and Fulcrum as part of the Lucid national panel of survey respondents. A probability sample of this size would have an estimated maximum sampling error of approximately plus or minus 2 percentage points, based on the 95% confidence interval. Additional levels of indeterminable error may occur in surveys based upon both sampling and non-sampling activity.
The American Worldview Inventory 2025: A National Study for Strengthening the Worldview of Americans from Dr. George Barna is designed to examine concerning trends in American beliefs about God, truth, sin, and salvation. It seeks to understand why these key aspects of American faith are weak and to provide practical insights for rebuilding a strong biblical worldview in our nation. This major research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University is essential for understanding the nation’s current worldview landscape and for guiding future improvements, with approximately 12 reports planned for release in 2025.
Begun as an annual tracking study in 2020, the American Worldview Inventory (AWVI) is based on several dozen worldview-related questions that fall within eight categories of worldview application, measuring both beliefs and behavior. The same questions are asked in each of the worldview incidence studies conducted by the Cultural Research Center (CRC), facilitating reliable tracking data from year to year. Additional worldview-related research is part of the AWVI project, allowing researchers at CRC to look beyond incidence data, digging deeper into an array of worldview components toward understanding the genesis of existing worldview and how to more effectively move people toward a biblical worldview.
The American Worldview Inventory is the first-ever national survey conducted in the United States measuring the incidence of both biblical and competing worldviews. Each year’s reports, released to the public at no cost via CRC’s website (www.CulturalResearchCenter.com) are also compiled in book form and produced at the beginning of each subsequent year, published by Arizona Christian University Press. Those books are available at CRC’s Publications page or on Amazon.
About the Cultural Research Center
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University in Glendale, Arizona, conducts the annual American Worldview Inventory as well as other nationwide surveys regarding worldview and cultural transformation. National studies completed by the Cultural Research Center (CRC) have investigated topics related to family, values, lifestyle, spiritual practices, and recent election-related activity and political views.
One of the groundbreaking efforts by CRC has been the worldview-related surveys conducted among the ACU student population. The first-of-its-kind ACU Student Worldview Inventory is administered to every ACU student at the start of each academic year, and a final time just prior to graduation. The results of that student census enable the University to track and address the worldview development of its students from a longitudinal perspective.
Research studies conducted by CRC are led by Dr. George Barna. Barna is a veteran of more than 40 years of national public opinion research, having previously guided the Barna Group (which he sold in 2009), and the American Culture and Faith Institute. His research findings have been the subject of more than 60 books he has authored or co-authored, many of which have become national bestsellers. His most recent bestseller is Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child’s Heart, Mind and Soul (Arizona Christian University Press, 2023).
Like ACU, CRC embraces biblical Christianity. The Center works in cooperation with a variety of Bible-centric, theologically conservative Christian ministries and remains politically non-partisan. Further information about Arizona Christian University is available at www.ArizonaChristian.edu.