A new Gallup poll shows that Americans' trust in organized religion continues to decline, continuing a gradual, decades-long trend.
Gallup noted in their commentary on the poll that "Once reliably at the top of Gallup's confidence in institutions list, [organized religion] now ranks fourth behind the military, small business and the police, and just ahead of the medical system."
The poll shows that only 42% of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in organized religion or the Church, well below the high of 68% in the 1970s:
This coincides with a trend of Americans becoming increasingly unlikely to identify with any particular religion, most recently seen in Pew Research Center's recently released "2014 Religious Landscape Study":
Meanwhile, America is building fewer churches. The amount of construction spending on religious structures has dropped by 62% since January 2002:
