America’s Christian Revival With Mark Tooley

Is America in the midst of a religious revival? That’s the question I seek to answer in an interview with Mark Tooley, one of the top thinkers on religion and public life in the United States. 

In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, social media has been replete with stories of Americans reconnecting with Christianity. And it’s not just anecdotes. There is data showing annual U.S. Bible sales are up 41.6% since 2022. 

That’s coupled with an approximately 50% increase of contemporary Christian music streams on Spotify since 2019, according to numbers compiled by music industry data provider Luminate. There has also been a 79.5% increase in religion and spirituality app downloads since 2019, based on information provided by Sensor Tower. 

Tooley is the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. The IRD is an ecumenical think tank that advocates for the renewal of historic Christian teaching in churches and society. Founded during the Cold War, the institute has also been a prominent proponent of democratic values, especially through its foreign policy and national security journal, Providence. 

Tooley joined IRD in 1994 to lead its project to revive United Methodism, and since then he has had a front row seat to observe religious trends in the United States and abroad. I asked him what he is seeing on the ground as the head of a major Christian institution. He explained that among the young people he talks to, admittedly a self-selected group, he has noticed a renewed interest in religion.

“Two years ago, I spoke to conservative campus groups at an Ivy League school, where it seemed everybody was religious. Ten or 20 years ago, that would not have been the case,” he told The Daily Signal, adding, “They would have been more libertarian.”

I asked him what it would take to see a major revival in the United States. Tooley noted that most revivals are localized, such as the one at Asbury University a few years ago.  

“If there is long term revival in America, it might be a mass reaction against secularism and a new search for stability and purpose,” Tooley speculated.

“There are short term upticks in church attendance after unsettling events like 9/11. If there is long term revival in America, it might be a mass reaction against secularism and a new search for stability and purpose,” he explained.

The think tank leader pointed out that some people are seeking guidance from online sources as opposed to their local churches. Tooley cautioned against that approach.

“It’s hard to see a sustainable spirituality enduring without institutional community. As a Christian [Methodist], I don’t think you can have deep Christianity without the church,” he stated.

As a committed Methodist who attended a Jesuit university, I was curious if Tooley saw a liturgical divide among the Americans seeking out Christianity. In other words, are young people really becoming Catholic?

“For several decades there has been a trend of educated young Protestants, and some older ones, who become Catholic or Eastern Orthodox because they offer rich intellectual traditions with liturgy and sacrament. But these conversions are not so widespread as to register in public polling,” he wrote to The Daily Signal. 

“There is also a smaller trend of educated young Protestants, seeking a richer tradition and traditional worship, becoming Anglicans. But again, these numbers are small,” he continued, adding, “The trend in U.S. Christianity continues to be toward nondenominational Christianity that is decidedly non-liturgical.”

Pew Research Center reported in 2025 that nondenominational Christians are now 7% of the U.S. adult population, which is the sole group of Protestants that composes a larger share of the population than it did during the first religious landscape survey conducted by the group.

Finally, I asked the longtime advocate of Christian ethics what was one thing he hoped a revival would accomplish in America. 

“With repentance comes humility with greater desire to serve others. I hope a revival in America would ameliorate polarization, facilitate greater social harmony, and renew commitment to and gratitude for our democratic republic,” Tooley concluded.

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