LGBTQ+ Americans are significantly less likely to be religious than their straight and cisgender peers — but they’re still more spiritual. 

Less than half of U.S. adults who are LGBTQ+ (48 percent) say they identify with a religion, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, compared to 73 percent of non-LGBTQ+ Americans. The majority of queer adults (52 percent) identify as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular,” compared to just 26 percent of their non-LGBTQ+ peers. 

LGBTQ+ adults were also far less likely to say that religion is very important to them personally (17 percent vs. 42 percent), that they attend religious services at least monthly (16 percent vs. 31 percent), or pray daily (23 percent vs. 46 percent).

The majority of LGB adults (46 percent) also said that they believe religion does more harm than good in American society, the Center’s separate 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study (RLS) found. Another 17 percent said religion does more good than harm, and 37 percent said it does equal amounts of good and harm.

Despite the lack of religious affiliation, LGBTQ+ adults still higher rates of spirituality. Around 80 percent of LGB adults said they believe “people have a soul or spirit in addition to their physical body,” and 69 percent believe “there is something spiritual beyond the natural world, even if we cannot see it.”

LGBTQ+ adults are also more likely to believe in astrology or horoscopes. Over half of LGBTQ+ Americans (54 percent) consult them at least yearly, according to a separate May survey from the Center — nearly twice the percentage of the general U.S. adult population (28 percent). Another 33 percent of LGBTQ+ adults said they consult tarot cards, three times as much as U.S. adults overall (11 percent).

The newest PRC report suggests that LGBTQ+ Americans may be less religious due to their age demographics, as young Americans are both more likely to be LGBTQ+ and less likely to be religious. Another factor is the treatment of LGBTQ+ people by religious institutions — specifically Abrahamic religions — whose doctrines are either not accepting of queer people or weaponized to reject them.