Tag Archives: conversion

Ratios of religious switching in the United States

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I found these two paragraphs in the February 2025 Pew Research Center report “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off:”

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Expressed as a ratio, these figures mean that there are six former Christians for every convert to Christianity in the United States. The balance is especially lopsided for Catholicism (which loses 8.4 people through religious switching for every convert to the religion). But Protestants also lose more people than they gain through switching, by a ratio of 1.8 to one.

In stark contrast, the religiously unaffiliated gain nearly six people for every person they lose through religious switching. That is, there are about six times as many Americans who say they were raised in a religion and no longer identify with a religion than there are who say they were raised in no religion but now identify with one.

This is an interesting way to consider the data. Rather than focus on absolute numbers or percentages, the ratios compare those who join a religious tradition versus those who leave. Additionally, because some American religious groups see evangelism and/or conversions as part an important part of their mission, this helps highlight whether more people are coming to the Christian faith or not. (Keep in mind that this applies to the 35% of American adults who have switched religion between

The ratios suggest this is a one-sided affair. Of those who switch, more leave Christianity compared to those who join. And more switchers are becoming religiously unaffiliated compared to the religious unaffiliated joining a religious tradition.

What does this mean for the efforts of religious groups? Is this more about a powerful pattern of more people becoming religiously unaffiliated or the limited effectiveness of religious groups to gain converts?

“Sociological conversion” to faith

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As a side note to the Chelsea Clinton wedding, some people have wondered whether this means Chelsea is joining the Jewish faith. In the midst of this wondering, David Breakstone of the Jerusalem Post speaks to a sociologist and introduces me to a new term:

“Many non-Jewish spouses are going through sociological conversions rather than rabbinical conversions,” Prof. Steven Cohen, eminent sociologist of American Jewry and personal friend, tells me in another article on the subject that appeared in this paper. “They’re becoming in effect members of the Jewish community without official rabbinical instruction or authorization. Sociological conversions may be the biggest denomination of converts today.”

This term apparently means that people can become Jewish without adopting Judaism. As one writer at Haaretz.com says, “In the Israeli reality, it is no longer true that the only way to join the Jewish people is to adopt the Jewish religion.”

It would seem these “sociological conversions” could have a large impact on what is means to be Jewish in the future.