Belief in religious teachings, fulfilling spiritual needs, and early life experiences also rank among the most powerful predictors of whether Americans identify as Protestant, convert into the tradition from another background, or leave the faith entirely. New analysis of Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study and a May 2025 follow-up survey provides a fine-grained portrait of these pathways, demonstrating how the motivations beneath them diverge profoundly between lifelong Protestants, converts, and those who have left the faith.
1. Protestant Retention and Core Motivations
Four-in-ten U.S. adults identify as Protestant today, including 32% who were raised Protestant and have remained so, and 8% who joined from another religion or no religion. Among lifelong Protestants, belief in the religion’s teachings is the most frequently cited reason for staying, named by 71%. Spiritual fulfillment at 66% and a sense of meaning in life at 61%, also rank highly. These figures accord with broader patterns among those Americans who retain their childhood religion, where belief, spiritual needs and meaning consistently outrank social or political teachings, community or tradition.
2. Reasons for leaving Protestantism
About 14% of all adults in the United States are former Protestants. The major factors contributing to leaving include stopping belief in the religion’s teachings, 45%; gradual disengagement, 40%; and perception of religion as unimportant in life, 38%. Disagreements over social or political issues and scandals involving religious leaders also play a role, though less commonly. These trends echo larger religious switching patterns, in which loss of belief is the most common driver across traditions.
3. Coming into Protestantism from Other Backgrounds
For adults raised in another religion or no religion who have become Protestant, the most commonly identified decisive factors are: the spiritual needs not met in their former tradition (51%); feeling called to a new faith (49%). Other reasons people have left and joined a Protestant church: dissatisfaction with prior teaching (35%); dissatisfaction with the positions of the religion on social or political issues (26%); scandals involving clergy (29%). These patterns largely echo what the survey found among former Catholics who have become Protestant – many of whom report seeking greater spiritual nourishment and more satisfying worship.
4. The Path to Religious ‘Nones’
Ten percent of U.S. adults are former Protestants who today identify as religiously unaffiliated—atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular.” Of this group, a central reason (81%) is that morality does not require religion. Other common reasons for leaving Protestantism include: questioning religious teachings (67%), not needing religion to be spiritual (57%) and distrust of religious leaders or organizations (both 49%). These motivations align closely with patterns among the wider “none” population, where skepticism and independence from institutions are key themes.
5. Childhood Religious Experience and Adult Identity
Early religious environment is a very strong predictor of adult retention: Among those raised Protestant who remain Protestant, 83% attended services at least monthly as children, and 72% recall a mostly positive religious upbringing. In contrast, only 66% of former Protestants now unaffiliated attended services that frequently, and just 29% describe their childhood experience as mostly positive. Lifelong Protestants also are more likely to have grown up in highly religious households, and to have regularly participated in multiple religious activities such as: nightly prayer, grace before meals, religious arts and crafts, listening to religious music, and reading religious stories.
6. Sociodemographic Influences on Retention
The retention rate among those raised Protestant is 70%, which is higher than for Catholics, at 57%, but lower than for Hindus, at 82%, and Muslims, at 77%. Political party also is associated with retention: 73% of Republicans and Republican leaners who were raised in a religion identify with a religion, compared with 56% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Age is another factor: 74% of adults ages 65 and older who were raised in a religion have retained one, compared with 55% of those younger than 30. Younger adults also are more likely to be unaffiliated due to generational shifts in religious commitment.
7. Timing of religious switching
Religious change usually occurs relatively early in life. Among American adults who have switched religions, 85% changed faiths before their 30th birthday. In fact, 46% switched as children or adolescents. People who have abandoned religion altogether tend to leave it earlier than those switching between denominations; 53% of ex-Protestants who have become unaffiliated departed when they were less than age 18.
8. Greater Context for U.S. Religious Trends
Protestantism is still the largest Christian subgroup, though its share has fallen from 51% in 2007 to 40% today. The Christian share of the U.S. adult population has stabilized in recent years at roughly 62%, even as religious “nones” have grown to account for 29%. Evangelical, mainline, and historically Black subgroups within Protestantism have all declined modestly in recent years, while nondenominational churches have grown slightly. These changes have taken place within a context of steady rates of prayer and service attendance since 2020, suggesting that some measures of religious practice plateaued, even as many long-term declines continue.
This ongoing interaction of belief, spiritual fulfillment, and formative childhood experiences continues to mold Protestant retention and conversion, while loss of belief and disengagement remain the dominant pathways out. For researchers and journalists tracking U.S. religious change, these findings put a premium on early life religious exposure, personal conviction, and broader cultural currents in determining whether Americans stay, join, or leave Protestantism.
