{"id":273086,"date":"2025-09-04T09:50:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T13:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/?p=273086"},"modified":"2026-02-06T13:40:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T18:40:39","slug":"do-nones-follow-religious-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2025\/09\/04\/do-nones-follow-religious-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"2. Do \u2018nones\u2019 follow religious practices?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

What are religious \u2018nones\u2019?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNones\u201d are adults who describe themselves religiously as atheist, agnostic or \u201cnothing in particular.\u201d This report uses the terms \u201cnones\u201d and \u201creligiously unaffiliated\u201d interchangeably.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Overall, religious \u201cnones\u201d are less likely than adults who identify with a religion<\/a> to engage in religious or spiritual practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In most of the 22 countries analyzed, majorities of \u201cnones\u201d say they never<\/em> attend religious services. And those who do attend services tend not to go on a regular basis (meaning, they go less often than once a month).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, in Germany, 30% of \u201cnones\u201d say they go to religious services at least sometimes, but only 2% say they attend monthly or more often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in places where a majority of \u201cnones\u201d attend services, most of them go less often than monthly. In Peru, for instance, 70% of religiously unaffiliated adults say they ever <\/em>go to church, but only 11% say they attend at least once a month.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, in most of the countries studied, a majority of \u201cnones\u201d say they never pray, including 77% in Germany and South Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, the countries where \u201cnones\u201d are least likely to pray are in Europe. In Hungary, the Netherlands and Sweden, for example, 87% of \u201cnones\u201d say they never pray. (Other findings show<\/a> that European countries also tend to have the smallest shares of Christians<\/em> who say they ever pray.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bar<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most \u201cnones\u201d also do not engage in the other religious and spiritual practices asked about in the survey. In most countries included in this report, no more than about one-fifth of \u201cnones\u201d say they light candles for religious reasons; visit fortune tellers or consult horoscopes to see into the future; wear or carry religious items or symbols; or fast during holy times.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the countries surveyed, there is no strong pattern of differences on these questions between the three main subgroups of \u201cnones\u201d \u2013 atheists, agnostics and people who identify religiously as \u201cnothing in particular.\u201d[14. numoffset=”14″ The surveys, conducted in 2023 and 2024, included a total of 36 countries<\/a>, but this report focuses on the 22 countries where our surveys had large enough samples of religiously unaffiliated adults to break out and analyze their results separately.] For country-by-country survey results among all three groups, go to the report topline<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

 Jump to sections on:<\/strong> Spiritual and religious practices of \u2018nones\u2019<\/a> |
How religious practices vary among \u2018nones\u2019<\/a> | How the practices of \u2018nones\u2019 differ by gender<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual and religious practices of \u2018nones\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In the 22 countries studied, \u201cnones\u201d are significantly less likely than religiously affiliated adults to say they light incense or candles for spiritual or religious reasons. In Peru, 20% of \u201cnones\u201d say they do this, compared with 45% of Peruvian adults with a religious affiliation (mostly Christians).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The divide between \u201cnones\u201d and the religiously affiliated on rates of prayer are particularly stark in many places studied. In Italy, for instance, just 13% of \u201cnones\u201d say they ever <\/em>pray, compared with 85% of religiously affiliated Italians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, \u201cnones\u201d in each country are pretty similar to their religiously affiliated compatriots when it comes to the use of fortune tellers, horoscopes and other ways to see the future<\/a>. In Mexico, for instance, 12% of adults in each group say they use these methods to try to predict the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How religious practices vary among \u2018nones\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNones\u201d who say religion is not at all<\/em> important in their lives are generally less likely than \u201cnones\u201d who ascribe at least a little importance to religion to participate in the religious and spiritual practices asked about in this survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For instance, in all 15 countries with enough \u201cnones\u201d to analyze in both groups, those who say religion is not at all important are significantly less likely than other \u201cnones\u201d to say they ever pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Japan, 30% of \u201cnones\u201d who say religion is not at all important say they ever<\/em> pray, compared with 58% of those who say religion is at least a little important in their lives. And in the United States, 30% of \u201cnones\u201d who consider religion not at all important say they pray, compared with 82% among other \u201cnones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither age nor education factor meaningfully into how often \u201cnones\u201d engage in religious practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How the practices of \u2018nones\u2019 differ by gender<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among \u201cnones\u201d in the analyzed countries, women are more likely than men to say they consult fortune tellers or horoscopes, or try to see the future in other ways. Among Chilean \u201cnones,\u201d for example, women are three times as likely as men to say they use these methods to try to look into the future (27% vs. 9%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chart<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This general pattern is present across the countries we surveyed in the Americas, Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among \u201cnones,\u201d women also are more likely than men to say they light candles or incense for spiritual or religious reasons. In the United States, for instance, 19% of religiously unaffiliated women light candles or incense for spiritual reasons, compared with 7% of unaffiliated men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when it comes to the other religious and spiritual practices asked about on the survey, such as attending religious services, there is no strong and consistent pattern of gender differences among religiously unaffiliated adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relatively few \u201cnones,” which include atheists and agnostics, attend religious services or light candles for religious reasons in most of the 22 countries 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