More than half of Americans do not believe God exists or that He “affects lives,” prompting one prominent researcher to highlight the need for “sweeping national repentance and spiritual renewal,” a new survey has found.
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released the second installment of its American Worldview Inventory 2025 on Wednesday.
The research found that overall, 60% of Americans do not believe that God exists or that He “affects lives.” Nearly half of self-identified Christians (47%) and a slightly smaller share of theologically identified born-again Christians (40%) said the same.
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George Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University, said of the findings, “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 added, “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.”
The report, he said, is evidence that God has been “reconfigured into our own image in order to fit within our personal comfort zone.”
Among Americans who believe that God exists and “affects lives,” a plurality (38%) defined God as the “most important element” in their lives, while 23% described God as “extremely important” in their lives, and 18% characterized God as having a “very important” influence on their lives.
Fourteen percent of respondents who believe in God agreed that He was “somewhat important” in their lives, while 5% considered God either “not too” important or “not at all” important. The remaining 3% placed their views on God’s influence in their lives into the category of “it varies.”
Just 20% of “those who believe the God of the Bible exists and affects lives” told pollsters they had “an intimate and interactive spiritual relationship with Him, with constant two-way communication.” Another 45% classified their relationship with God as “close,” defined by frequent prayer and trust in Him to “do what is best and right.”
Eleven percent of those surveyed identified their relationship with God as “arms-length,” while 18% said “He exists and is capable of all things, but do not have a personal, interactive ‘relationship’ with Him.”
The remaining 7% of respondents remained uncertain whether or not He interacts with people and did not “know how to describe their relationship with Him.” One-third (33%) of “those who believe the God of the Bible exists and affects lives” defined God as having a “total” influence over their lives and choices, while another third (33%) reported that He had “a lot” of influence on their lives, which “often” reflected His guidance.
Nineteen percent of respondents who believe in God contended that He had “some” influence over their lives, which “sometimes” reflected His guidance. Six percent pointed to God as having “not much influence” on their lives and indicated that any influence He did have was “hard to identify.” Four percent credited God with having “no identifiable or conscious influence” on their lives, while the remaining 3% maintained that His influence on their lives was “consistent or unknown.”
When asked what they believed God provided to them, a majority of those who believe in God cited Him as a source of hope (72%), comfort (71%), peace (65%), guidance (64%), compassion (60%), joy (60%), mercy (58%) and purpose (54%). Smaller shares of respondents listed God as a source of miracles (47%), opportunities (41%), security (38%), responsibilities (33%) and power (31%). Less than one-quarter of those who believe in God think He provides identity (24%) and boundaries (19%).
“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,” Barna declared. “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,” he added.
“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 concluded, reflecting on the connection between the research and “the trials and tribulations, as well as the multifaceted demise of the nation.”
According to Barna, “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.”
The data in the report is based on responses collected from 2,100 U.S. adults in January. The survey has a margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
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