Findings From a Wheatley Institute National Survey on Gambling in America

For the better part of a decade, the story of American religion has been told as a story of subtraction. Affiliation is down. Attendance is down. In 2024, eight in ten Americans said religion was losing influence in American life, and serious scholarship has documented the retreat of traditional religious authority. That perception has since softened—by 2026 the proportion seeing religion’s influence as diminished has fallen to six in ten—but the subtraction story persists as a frame through which American religion is read.

Over the past several decades, religion has moved from the center of American public life toward the margins. Most Americans now say religion is losing influence, and participation has declined across much of the developed world. At the same time, many Americans have shifted sources of identity and moral meaning away from religious commitments toward politics, popular culture, science, or some combination of the three. As this shift continues, it invites closer examination of how changes in religious involvement relate to individual well-being— including mental and physical health— as well as to family relationships and broader social life.

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On the eve of Constitution Day, President Dallin H. Oaks, president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke at the Washington National Cathedral about the Constitution, peacemaking, and pluralism.

In his viral cover story for The Atlantic, “Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Gambler,” McKay Coppins embedded himself inside America’s sports-betting boom—and learned just how dangerous the industry can be.

What kind of relationship should there be between schools and faith communities? Can they come together to empower students while still protecting the boundaries set by the First Amendment?

Paul Lambert, Director of the Religion and Human Flourishing Initiative at Wheatley Institute, sat down with Atlantic journalist McKay Coppins on the Deseret Voices podcast to discuss the explosion in mobile sports betting. What does the data tell us about this ballooning social trend? What are the hidden consequences of "pocket casinos"? And what have conversations about gambling been missing?

In a society torn by culture wars, how can citizens support bridge-building and peacemaking? Thomas B. Griffith, Wheatley Fellow and former federal judge, sat down with journalist McKay Coppins on the Deseret Voices podcast to explore the power of pluralism, the Constitution, and religious liberty.

Mariya Manzhos from Deseret News reviews a series of events hosted by Wheatley Institute in Washington D.C. that asks if— and how— civic compromise is possible.

Wheatley Constitutional Government Fellow Dr. Bradley Rebeiro's recently published work Until the Last Yoke Is Broken: The Constitutional Vision of Frederick Douglass is receiving national attention, including a recent review from David S. Reynolds with the Wall Street Journal.

Amy Ortiz, reporter at Deseret News, explores journalist McKay Coppin's recent lecture on sports gambling and addiction at Wheatley Institute.