Understanding Why Some People Stay in Their Religion While Others Leave

The following is a blog post written with the assistance of the Econ 17 Chatbot. I uploaded a printed pdf copy of this recent Religion News Service article and asked the chatbot to write a blog post that used the concept of religious capital to help us understand the patterns in the research study. I gave the chatbot some specific instructions in my prompt to provide it with clear direction on what I wanted. I then made edits and revisions to get the final product. I could have used the Pew report as the source, but I chose to use the news article because of its newsy style of writing.

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A recent article from Religion News Service explores findings from a new Pew Research Center report on why some Americans stay in their religion while others leave. The study, based on data from Pew's 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study surveying 8,937 adults, reveals that childhood religious experiences are the primary factor determining whether Americans maintain their faith into adulthood. While 56% of Americans still identify with their childhood faith, 35% have switched religious affiliations—including 20% who now claim no religion. The data shows a stark difference: 84% of those with positive childhood religious experiences remained in the same faith as adults, compared to 69% of those with negative experiences who now identify as having no religion.

From an economics of religion perspective, this phenomenon is not just about faith; it's about deeply ingrained social processes and accumulated investments that create powerful incentives to stay.

One key concept that helps us understand religious persistence is cultural transmission. Think of it like passing down a family recipe—parents and communities transmit religious beliefs, practices, and values to the next generation through repeated exposure, direct teaching, and social feedback. This isn't always a conscious process for the recipient; it's often absorbed through upbringing, social networks, and early experiences.

The article's findings that people with positive childhood religious experiences are more likely to remain in their faith provides clear evidence of cultural transmission at work. When cultural transmission is successful, individuals develop strong preferences for their inherited religious tradition. Conversely, negative childhood experiences represent failed or costly cultural transmission, making individuals more likely to seek alternatives or abandon religion altogether.

The concept of religious capital—the accumulated benefits and resources derived from religious participation—also applies. Religious capital includes social networks within the religious community, knowledge of traditions and practices, emotional connections to rituals, and the sense of identity that comes from group membership. Like any form of capital, religious capital results from investment that has been built up over time.

When individuals have invested significant time and effort into building religious capital within their current tradition, the economic cost of abandoning it becomes substantial. They risk losing not only their established social connections and support systems but also the familiar framework for meaning-making they've developed. The benefits of staying within a familiar religious tradition often outweigh the perceived benefits of seeking alternatives, especially when the costs of acquiring new religious capital in a different tradition are high.

This economic framework helps explain why 84% of people with positive childhood religious experiences stay in their tradition, while 69% of those with negative experiences leave. Positive childhood experiences represent successful cultural transmission and early investment in religious capital, creating strong incentives to remain. Negative experiences suggest failed transmission and lower accumulated religious capital, reducing the switching costs of leaving.

Understanding these economic forces can help religious communities better support positive cultural transmission and recognize that religious commitment often reflects rational responses to the costs and benefits of participation, accumulated over a lifetime of experiences and relationships. Human beings, it turns out, are remarkably good at making decisions that maximize their well-being—even in matters of faith.