Inclusive church statistics show substantial support for wider participation and belonging, but the picture varies by denomination, worship frequency, age, race and ethnicity, and the specific issue being measured. The figures below come from Pew Research Center reports published in 2021, 2022, and 2025, plus Barna Group reports on multiracial churches and Christian women.
Contents
- Overall Catholic views on inclusion
- Women’s influence and leadership
- Worship frequency and inclusive policy views
- Race, ethnicity, and congregational representation
- Black religious communities and LGBTQ+ acceptance
- Women’s leadership and multiracial church experiences
- Views about transgender inclusion
Overall Catholic views on inclusion
The 2025 Catholic inclusivity report from Pew Research Center found that 60% of U.S. Catholics say the Catholic Church should be more inclusive, even if doing so requires changing some teachings. Support is not uniform across political groups. It reaches 75% among Catholic Democrats and Democratic leaners, compared with 45% among Catholic Republicans and Republican leaners.
Gender differences also appear in the overall measure: 64% of Catholic women prefer a more inclusive church, compared with 55% of Catholic men. These figures measure preferences about the church’s direction; they do not by themselves identify which changes respondents would prioritize.
Specific policy questions show majority support for several changes. In the same Pew Research Center report, 84% of U.S. Catholics say the church should allow birth control, 83% say it should permit in vitro fertilization, and 76% say it should allow Communion for unmarried Catholics living with a romantic partner.
Views related to same-sex relationships are more divided. Six in ten U.S. Catholics, or 60%, say priests should be allowed to bless same-sex couples. Half, 50%, say the church should recognize marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The same report records 68% support for allowing women to become deacons and 59% support for allowing women to become priests.
Women’s influence and leadership
Catholic views about women’s influence indicate that many members see room for greater participation. Pew Research Center reports that 51% of U.S. Catholics say women do not have enough influence in the Catholic Church. Another 42% say women have about the right amount of influence, while 5% say women have too much influence.
The perception differs by gender. Among Catholic women, 58% say women do not have enough influence in the church. Among Catholic men, the corresponding share is 44%.
Attitudes toward ordained roles also differ depending on how respondents assess women’s current influence. Among Catholics who say women lack influence, 87% favor allowing women to become deacons and 80% favor allowing women to become priests. Even among Catholics who say women have about the right amount of influence, 48% favor women becoming deacons and 36% favor women becoming priests.
| Catholic view of women’s influence | Favor women as deacons | Favor women as priests |
|---|---|---|
| Women do not have enough influence | 87% | 80% |
| Women have about the right amount | 48% | 36% |
The comparison suggests that support for women’s leadership is not limited to people who believe the church currently gives women too little influence. The level of support changes considerably by role and by the respondent’s assessment of present influence.
Worship frequency and inclusive policy views
The 2025 Catholic inclusivity report also separates Catholics who attend Mass weekly from those who attend a few times a year or less often. On several issues, less frequent attenders express higher support for policy changes.
Among Catholics who attend Mass weekly, 72% favor allowing birth control and 71% favor allowing in vitro fertilization. The corresponding figures among Catholics who attend Mass a few times a year or less often are 92% and 90%.
The gap is also visible on relationship-related questions. Weekly Mass attenders show 59% support for Communion for unmarried cohabiting Catholics, 46% support for priests blessing same-sex couples, and 31% support for recognizing same-sex marriages. Among Catholics who attend a few times a year or less often, those figures are 84%, 68%, and 60%, respectively.
| Issue | Weekly Mass attenders | Attend a few times a year or less |
|---|---|---|
| Allow birth control | 72% | 92% |
| Permit IVF | 71% | 90% |
| Communion for unmarried cohabiting Catholics | 59% | 84% |
| Priests blessing same-sex couples | 46% | 68% |
| Recognize same-sex marriages | 31% | 60% |
These are group-level survey results for the two attendance categories. They describe differences in reported preferences and should not be read as a measure of how any individual Catholic will behave in a congregation.
Other demographic comparisons in the same report include 81% support among White non-Hispanic Catholics for Communion for unmarried cohabiting Catholics, compared with 68% among Hispanic Catholics. Among Catholics ages 18 to 34, 63% favor priests blessing same-sex couples and 55% favor recognizing same-sex marriages. Among Catholics ages 50 to 64, 87% favor allowing birth control and 86% favor allowing in vitro fertilization.
Race, ethnicity, and congregational representation
In its 2025 report on race and ethnicity in congregations, Pew Research Center measured how worshippers describe the racial and ethnic makeup of their places of worship. The report says 66% of U.S. adults who attend religious services say all or most fellow congregants share their race or ethnicity.
Leadership representation is also uneven. Among attenders, 53% say all or most senior leaders in their house of worship are White. At the same time, 21% attend congregations where no racial or ethnic group accounts for a majority of congregants, and 18% attend congregations where no racial or ethnic group makes up a majority of senior leaders.
The report gives additional differences by religious tradition. Thirty-five percent of Muslim attenders worship where all or most other congregants share their race or ethnicity, while 39% say no racial group makes up a majority in their congregation. Among mainline Protestants, 70% say all or most fellow congregants are White. The comparable figure is 61% among evangelical Protestants and 85% among Jewish attenders.
These measures capture composition and perceived majority status, rather than a complete assessment of whether a congregation is welcoming. A congregation can be racially mixed while still having unequal leadership or belonging experiences, and a congregation’s demographic profile does not establish how it treats every visitor or member.
Black religious communities and LGBTQ+ acceptance
Pew Research Center’s 2021 Black religion report measured views about homosexuality and religious leadership among Black adults and religious groups. Sixty-two percent of Black Protestants say homosexuality should be accepted by society. A separate comparison in the report places the figure at 57% among Black Protestants, 78% among Black Catholics, and 75% among religiously unaffiliated Black adults.
On same-sex wedding ceremonies, 44% of Black adults say religious leaders should perform them, including 37% of Black Protestants. Views differ within the Black population: 62% of Black adults who identify as Black only say homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared with 77% of multiracial Black adults.
The same Pew Research Center report finds broad support for women serving as senior religious leaders. Eighty-five percent of Black Americans say women should be allowed to serve as the senior religious leader of a congregation, as do 86% of Black Protestants.
Congregational messages about gender roles are less symmetrical. Among Black congregants, 52% say their houses of worship strongly emphasize that women should be good role models, compared with 61% who say the same about men. Among Black adults who attend religious services, 35% say their congregations strongly emphasize that women should financially support their families, while 64% say their congregations strongly emphasize that men should financially support their families.
Women’s leadership and multiracial church experiences
Barna Group’s Christian Women Today report focuses on women’s perceptions of opportunity and leadership. It finds that 84% of Christian women say their church is totally or mostly open to women fulfilling their leadership potential. However, 24% say the role of pastor is not open to women.
The report also finds that 78% of Christian women disagree that the Bible prohibits them from being leaders in the church. Seventy-three percent say they can and should be doing more to serve God. Yet 41% say they have more opportunities to lead outside their church than within it, showing a gap between general openness and perceived access to leadership opportunities.
Another 82% of Christian women say their church values women’s leadership as much as men’s leadership. Taken together with the pastor-role figure, the results distinguish broad support for women’s leadership from views about particular offices or responsibilities.
Barna Group’s Beyond Diversity report provides a different measure of inclusion: reported racial prejudice in church settings. Among Black practicing Christians in multiracial churches, 29% say they have experienced racial prejudice there. The figure is 11% among Black practicing Christians in monoracial Black churches. These percentages describe reported experiences in the surveyed church contexts and are not a prevalence estimate for every congregation.
Views about transgender inclusion
Pew Research Center’s 2022 report on transgender issues shows substantial differences among religious groups in how people understand gender. Sixty-two percent of Catholics say gender is determined by sex assigned at birth, up from 52% in 2021. The corresponding figure is 70% among Black Protestants and 87% among White evangelicals.
Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, 58% say a person’s gender can be different from the sex assigned at birth. The figure rises to 76% among atheists and 67% among agnostics.
The 2022 report also records views among White evangelical Protestants about social and institutional policy. Thirty-nine percent say they know someone who is transgender, up from 33% in 2021 and 25% in 2017. Sixty-eight percent say society has gone too far in accepting transgender people, and 71% say views about transgender issues are changing too quickly.
On specific policies, 68% of White evangelical Protestants favor requiring transgender people to use bathrooms matching the sex assigned at birth. Sixty-nine percent favor making it illegal for public schools to teach about gender identity in elementary school. Among White non-evangelical Protestants, the corresponding figures are 48% and 49%. Among Black Protestants, they are also 48% and 49%.
Religious settings may address inclusion directly through teaching and discussion. Pew Research Center’s 2021 report on gender, sexuality, and Black religion found that 29% of Black adults who attend religious services heard a sermon, lecture, or group discussion about discrimination against women in the past year. Forty-two percent heard one about racial inequality, and 39% heard one about voting and protesting.
The figures across these reports point to a multidimensional definition of an inclusive church: openness to women’s leadership, racial and ethnic representation, welcome for LGBTQ+ people, and opportunities to discuss discrimination and inequality. Support can be high for one dimension and lower for another, so a single percentage cannot summarize every congregation’s experience.