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Acton Line podcast: Lyman Stone on the decline of religiosity in the United States
Acton Line podcast: Lyman Stone on the decline of religiosity in the United States
Jun 15, 2026 2:19 AM

Religion plays, and has always played, a crucial role in American life. In the past 75 years, however, religiosity has been in rapid decline. What’s causing the decline? In a new study from the American Enterprise Institute, demographer Lyman Stone helps answer. Lyman joins this episode to uncover his findings, including the history of religious life in the United States dating back four hundred years ago and how secular education is likely playing a large role in declining religiosity.

Read the study: Promise and peril: The history of American religiosity and its recent decline

Watch: Birth rates are on the decline — and it’s a problem

Read: “How to Make Family Life More Achievable,” by Lyman Stone

Many causes to recent decline in American religiosity; but U.S. more religious now than at Founding

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