Just shy of half of evangelical Christians — 49% — are now attending worship services in person and without any COVID-related restrictions, according to a new survey.
Among the respondents who claim to “typically attend services at least once or twice a month,” a clear majority of 64% said they have gone to church in person in the past month, according to the Pew Research Center, which conducted the poll.
“Among religious attenders, evangelical Protestants, White (non-Hispanic) Americans and Republicans are considerably more inclined than others to say their congregations should be open without pandemic-related restrictions,” stated Pew’s report on the study.
Only 6% of respondents said their places of worship are still entirely shuttered, which is down from 31% in July of last year and 17% earlier this year.
While a great deal of media attention has been paid to vaccine hesitancy among evangelical Christians, an NBC News survey from July found that 59% of white evangelicals had been fully inoculated against COVID-19.
LISTEN TO TODAY’S PODCAST AND SUBSCRIBE:
Only 4% of evangelical Protestants told Pew “their clergy have discouraged” vaccination.
In total, 64% of Protestants in black traditions, 42% of Catholics and mainline Protestants and 21% of evangelical Protestants said their clergy are actively encouraging people to take the shots.
“More than half of U.S. congregants (54%) and nearly three-quarters of evangelical churchgoers (73%) say their clergy have not said much about COVID-19 vaccinations either way,” the report stated.
***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for Faithwire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app, developed by our parent company, to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***