Progressive Christian statistics vary by definition and survey year. Pew Research Center’s 2006 religion-and-politics survey measured people who described themselves as liberal or progressive Christians, while its 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study reported results for respondents with a liberal ideology. PRRI’s 2013 Economic Values Survey used the broader category “religious progressives.” These groups overlap conceptually, but they should not be treated as identical populations.
Table of contents
- How large and politically distinct were progressive Christians in 2006?
- How did progressive and non-progressive Christians compare?
- What did liberals report about prayer and worship in 2023–24?
- What did liberals say about God, morality, and truth?
- How did liberals describe science and religious affiliation?
- Who counted as a religious progressive in 2013?
- What public values were associated with religious progressives?
How large and politically distinct were progressive Christians in 2006?
Pew Research Center’s 2006 religion-and-politics survey found that 32% of all Christians identified as “liberal” or “progressive” Christians. The same survey found that 36% of evangelicals also described themselves in those terms. That result is important because it shows that progressive identification was not limited to one narrow church tradition in that measurement.
The survey also found that 15% of liberal Democrats identified with the religious left. Among adults under 30, 14% said they thought of themselves as members of the religious left, compared with 13% who said they were on the religious right. These figures describe self-identification in the 2006 survey; they are not a current estimate or a forecast.
Political affiliation differed between the two Christian comparison groups. Forty-four percent of progressive Christians were Democrats, compared with 29% of non-progressive Christians. Approval of George W. Bush’s job performance was 30% among progressive Christians and 45% among non-progressive Christians. Both measures came from Pew’s 2006 religion-and-politics survey.
How did progressive and non-progressive Christians compare?
Pew’s 2006 results show differences across social policy, environmental policy, foreign policy, and religious belief. On gay marriage, 52% of progressive Christians opposed it, compared with 66% of non-progressive Christians. On strict environmental laws, 66% of progressive Christians said the laws were worth the cost, compared with 46% of non-progressive Christians.
On the Iraq war, 37% of progressive Christians said the war was the right decision, while 54% of non-progressive Christians said so. These are opinions measured in 2006, not judgments about later events.
| Measure in Pew’s 2006 survey | Progressive Christians | Non-progressive Christians |
|---|---|---|
| Opposed gay marriage | 52% | 66% |
| Said strict environmental laws were worth the cost | 66% | 46% |
| Said the Iraq war was the right decision | 37% | 54% |
| Said religion was very important in their lives | 64% | 68% |
| Said the Bible was the literal word of God | 33% | 43% |
| Democrats | 44% | 29% |
| Approved of George W. Bush’s job performance | 30% | 45% |
Religious commitment was high in both groups by one measure: 64% of progressive Christians and 68% of non-progressive Christians said religion was very important in their lives. Views of the Bible differed more: 33% of progressive Christians said the Bible was the literal word of God, compared with 43% of non-progressive Christians. The comparison suggests that the “progressive” label in this survey did not mean that respondents were uniformly secular or detached from religion.
What did liberals report about prayer and worship in 2023–24?
Pew Research Center’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study reported a different population: respondents identified with a liberal ideology. In that group, 24% prayed at least daily, 21% prayed weekly or monthly, and 55% prayed seldom or never. The categories describe prayer frequency during the 2023–24 study period.
Attendance was less frequent than daily prayer for many liberal respondents. Eleven percent attended religious services at least once a week, 5% attended once or twice a month, and 69% attended seldom or never. These figures are distributions within the liberal-ideology group and should not be combined with the 2006 progressive-Christian figures.
The same study found that 18% of liberals said religion was very important in their lives, while 20% said it was somewhat important. A further 62% said religion was not too important or not at all important. Together, these results show a wide range of religious involvement within the liberal category rather than a single profile.
What did liberals say about God, morality, and truth?
In Pew’s 2023–24 Religious Landscape Study, 30% of liberals said they believed in God or a universal spirit and were absolutely certain. Another 34% believed in God or a universal spirit but were not absolutely certain. Thirty-five percent said they did not believe in God or a universal spirit.
Views about morality were also measured directly. Fourteen percent of liberals said it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values. Eighty-five percent said people can be moral and have good values without believing in God. On standards for right and wrong, 26% said there are clear and absolute standards, while 73% said right and wrong depends on the situation.
Liberals also gave varied assessments of religion’s social effects. Nineteen percent said religion does more good than harm in American society. Forty-two percent said it does more harm than good, and 38% said it does equal amounts of good and harm. These measures concern perceptions of religion in American society, not the personal religious practice of every respondent.
How did liberals describe science and religious affiliation?
Pew’s 2023–24 study asked how respondents understood human evolution. Sixty-one percent of liberals said humans have evolved over time due to natural selection and that God had no role in the process. Twenty-eight percent said humans evolved through processes guided or allowed by God or a higher power. Nine percent said humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.
The liberal-ideology group included several Protestant traditions. Seven percent identified as evangelical Protestants, 9% as mainline Protestants, and 5% as historically Black Protestants. More specific family-level results included 1% who identified as mainline Protestants in the United Church of Christ family and 2% in the Methodist family.
Other family-level figures were 2% who identified as evangelical Protestants in the Baptist family, 1% as evangelical Protestants in the nondenominational family, 1% as evangelical Protestants in the Restorationist family, and 1% as mainline Protestants in the Baptist family. These affiliation figures are percentages within the liberal-ideology group in the 2023–24 study; they are not estimates of the size of each denomination nationally.
Who counted as a religious progressive in 2013?
PRRI’s 2013 Economic Values Survey used the category “religious progressives,” which included people from several religious and nonreligious backgrounds. Twelve percent of religious progressives were non-Christian religious Americans such as Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims. Catholics made up 29%, white mainline Protestants 19%, and white evangelical Protestants 4%.
The category also included people without a formal religious tradition who still said religion was at least somewhat important. They represented 18% of religious progressives. Black Protestants represented 9%.
This composition is one reason the phrase “progressive Christian” should not automatically be substituted for “religious progressive.” The PRRI category included non-Christian religious Americans and people without a formal tradition, in addition to Christian groups.
What public values were associated with religious progressives?
PRRI’s 2013 Economic Values Survey found that 79% of religious progressives said being religious is mostly about doing the right thing. Sixteen percent said being religious is mostly about holding the right beliefs. These responses describe how religious progressives understood religiosity in that survey.
Economic views were also part of the 2013 results. Eighty-eight percent of religious progressives said the government should do more to reduce the gap between rich and poor. In PRRI’s partisan analysis, 28% of Democrats were religious progressives, compared with 5% of Republicans.
Taken together, the available measurements show why progressive Christian statistics need careful labels. Pew’s 2006 survey measured a self-described Christian identity, Pew’s 2023–24 study measured liberal ideology alongside religious beliefs and practices, and PRRI’s 2013 survey measured a broader religious-progressive category. The percentages are useful for comparing the populations and questions within each study, but they do not establish one continuous trend across all three periods.