WASHINGTON – A growing percentage of Asian Americans are not affiliated with any religion, and the share who identify as Christian has declined.
But the survey also shows that 40% of Asian Americans say they feel close to some religious tradition for reasons aside from religion. For example, just 11% of Asian American adults say their religion is Buddhism, but 21% feel close to Buddhism for other reasons, such as family background or culture.
These are among the findings of a new Pew Research Center analysis exploring religion among Asian American adults, based on the largest nationally representative survey of its kind to date.
About the Survey
The report looks at six religions or philosophical traditions: Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, Daoism. It also looks at Asian Americans who are religiously unaffiliated.
The findings include analyses of six Asian origin groups that account for 81% of all Asian Americans: Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Americans.
Religious Profile of Asian Americans
Today, 32% of Asian Americans are religiously unaffiliated, up from 26% in 2012.
Christianity is still the largest faith group among Asian Americans (34%) but it has also seen the sharpest decline, down 8 percentage points since 2012. Asian American Christians are about evenly split between Catholics and Protestants (17% and 16% of all U.S. Asian adults, respectively). Born-again or evangelical Protestants make up 10% of Asian Americans.
Buddhists and Hindus each account for about one-in-ten Asian Americans, while Muslims make up 6%.
Various other religious groups (including Daoists, Jains, Jews, Sikhs and others) together make up about 4% of all Asian American adults.
There are large differences in religious affiliation among Asian Americans depending on their ethnic origin group.
56% of Chinese Americans and 47% of Japanese Americans are not affiliated with any religion – the highest percentages of “nones” (i.e., those who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”) among the Asian origin groups that are large enough to be analyzed in the survey.
Three-quarters of Filipino Americans are Christian, mostly Catholic.
59% of Korean Americans are Christian, mostly Protestant – including 34% who identify as born-again or evangelical Protestants.
Indian Americans are far more likely than those in the other large Asian origin groups to be Hindu (48%), though a fair number of Indian Americans are Christian (15%), Muslim (8%) or Sikh (8%).
Vietnamese Americans are the most likely of the large origin groups to identify as Buddhist (37%).
These six Asian origin groups – Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Americans – account for 81% of all Asian Americans. The survey did not include enough interviews with respondents in other Asian origin groups to be able to report on them separately.
Other Key Findings
Importance of religion: While nearly a third of Asian Americans say religion is very important in their lives, Asian American Muslims (60%) and Christians (54%) are much more likely than Asian American Hindus (33%) and Buddhists (31%) to feel that way.
Attending religious services: 29% of Asian Americans say they attend religious services or go to a temple, shrine or other religious space at least once a month, including 21% who say they do so weekly or more often. Asian Americans Christians and Muslims are more likely than Asian American Buddhists, Hindus or “nones” to say they attend religious services at least monthly.
Home worship: 36% of Asian Americans say their home contains an altar, shrine or religious symbol that they use for worship. Using an altar, shrine or other religious symbol for worship in the home is most common among Vietnamese and Indian Americans, in part because this is a relatively common practice among Buddhists (who make up 37% of the Vietnamese American population) and Hindus (who make up 48% of the Indian American population).
Feeling “close to” a religion: 40% of Asian American adults express a connection to one or more groups that they do not claim as a religious identity. For example, 18% do not identify religiously as Christian, yet say they feel close to Christianity aside from religion. And 10% express a similar connection to Confucianism.
These are among the key findings of a nationally representative, multilingual survey of 7,006 Asian American adults conducted by Pew Research Center from July 5, 2022, to Jan. 27, 2023.
To read the full report, click here: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/10/11/religion-among-asian-americans/
Survey methodology: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/10/11/methodology-asian-american-religion/
Survey topline: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2023/10/PR_23.10.11_Asian-American-religion_topline.pdf
In addition, to better understand Asian Americans’ diverse perspectives on the intersection of religious identity and ethnic culture, Pew Research Center arranged structured small-group conversations (focus groups) and in-depth, one-on-one interviews. These conversations explored connections to Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, Daoism and Shintoism.
“In Their Own Words: Cultural Connections to Religion Among Asian Americans”: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/10/11/in-their-own-words-cultural-connections-to-religion-among-asian-americans/
Focus groups methodology: https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/10/11/in-their-own-words-cultural-connections-to-religion-among-asian-americans/#methodology-focus-groups
For more on Pew Research Center’s research on Asian Americans, visit www.pewresearch.org/AsianAmericans.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions.
Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder. The Center’s Asian American portfolio was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with generous support from The Asian American Foundation; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative DAF, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Henry Luce Foundation; the Doris Duke Foundation; The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation; The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation; The Long Family Foundation; Lu-Hebert Fund; Gee Family Foundation; Joseph Cotchett; the Julian Abdey and Sabrina Moyle Charitable Fund; and Nanci Nishimura.
The center also thanks the Leaders Forum for its thought leadership and valuable assistance in helping make this survey possible.
The qualitative research on Asian American Muslims, and the strategic communications campaign to promote the research portfolio, were made possible with generous support from the Doris Duke Foundation.