(RNS) — Religion portrayed in contemporary American entertainment isn’t turning of us away from their monitors, but new learn suggests it is miles going to be a key element in some television presentations’ and movies’ appeal, no matter of us’s religious or political affiliation.
A nationwide survey conducted by HarrisX, an information analytics and market learn firm, in partnership with the Faith & Media Initiative, explored how audiences react to expressions of faith when they seem in mainstream movies and television, including in presentations a lot like “The Pitt,” “Younger Sheldon,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “The West Wing,” “Ramy” and “No person Wants This.”
The survey, launched this week, stumbled on that 77% of entertainment consumers agreed that faith in TV and movies is broadly appealing, with enhance consistent across age teams — including Technology Z (seventy nine%), millennials (83%), Technology X (78%) and toddler boomers (72%) — in addition to across political birthday party lines (Republicans 82%, Democrats 75%, independents 73%).
Brooke Zaugg, govt director of the Faith & Media Initiative since 2021, also pointed to the finding that 92% of customers said they are open to faith illustration in entertainment. “I knew it might perchance perchance well well be a colossal number, but that in truth is kind of adore 100%,” she said.
The researchers conducted interviews with 32 “avid” entertainment consumers to establish issues that mattered most, and then studied them nationally in September and November 2025. Bigger than 12,000 contributors across ages, religious affiliations and political leanings watched over 100 scenes from 50 movies and TV series and evaluated every clip on how entertaining it used to be, how authentically faith used to be portrayed and whether or now not it made them more interested in watching the total program or screech material adore it.
Respondents to the survey came from diverse religious backgrounds and the researchers tested scenes depicting faith traditions including Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
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Zaugg said the information exposes the appetite American consumers bear for faith in their entertainment, a actuality that she said has shifted since President Donald Trump took space of business a second time. “Whether you love the administration we now bear got now or now not,” Zaugg said, “of us are a ways more open to talking about perception and faith.”
(Graphic courtesy of Faith & Media Initiative)
The survey’s findings revealed that folks who identified as atheists and agnostics had been in particular suffering from scenes portraying faith and cited “deepened connection” to the arena matter after being uncovered to those religious scenes. Amongst atheists and agnostics, sooner than watching the scenes, fifty three% said they stumbled on presentations that explore faith and spirituality more appealing than others, which rose to to 58% after watching the scenes. Of that similar neighborhood, fifty three% said that, sooner than watching the scenes, presentations exploring faith and spirituality are more relatable, which rose to 61% after watching them — one other shock for Zaugg.
“They had been greater than the remainder of the survey,” Zaugg said of atheists and agnostics. “They had been doubtlessly the most responsive, adore the ideal increase in phrases of how they felt after watching it.”
And when researchers examined patterns across more than 100 scenes, emotional sincerity emerged as a key driver of target market engagement. Scenes described as emotional, reflective or conception-provoking continuously ranked greater, whereas these characterised by sarcasm, irony or discomfort had been more at probability of defective among the bottom-performing portrayals.
At the similar time, scenes portraying complexity and doubt conducted nearly in addition to overtly distinct portrayals in phrases of engagement, see you later as they avoided stereotyping. Bigger than 9 out of 10 viewers said they are open to humor in the entertainment they understand, but when humor intersected with faith, target market reactions utterly different significantly depending on whether or now not the humor used to be deemed respectful or now not.
One in all the bottom-performing amusing scenes came from the comedy series “Tall Metropolis,” which included a storyline centered on Yom Kippur. Handiest 48% of viewers agreed the scene extinct humor respectfully. In open-ended responses, some contributors said the portrayal relied too heavily on familiar tropes. “It by no technique acquired past the stereotypical assumptions which would perchance perchance well well be on the total connected to utterly different religions,” one viewer in the understand wrote.
“Comedy attracts terminate to-in sort appeal in entertainment” (Graphic courtesy of Faith & Media Initiative)
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The pinnacle-performing scene from the survey came from the HBO scientific drama “The Pitt,” which follows scientific mavens working at a fictional trauma clinic in Pittsburgh. The scene follows Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch as he experiences wretchedness and emotional exhaustion during a stylish shift. During the scene, Dr. Robby thanks a scientific pupil, Dennis Whitaker, for allowing him a “transient moment of tranquil reflection” when he felt as though he had been “drowning.”
“What used to be that you had been reciting?” Whitaker asks. Dr. Robby, who’s Jewish, replies, “It’s the Shema prayer. It’s a declaration of faith in God. I lived with my grandmother when I was miniature, and we extinct to recite it every morning.”
Whitaker responds by reciting a passage from the Book of Isaiah, which he says he realized whereas majoring in theology: “Weary young men stumble and fall, but these who hope in the Lord will renew their energy and slip on wings adore eagles.”
Dr. Robby listens with a tiny smile on his face, “I don’t know if I in truth deem in God, in particular on days adore this day,” he says. The scene ends with both characters clearly touched by the intimate interaction.
72% of survey respondents said the scene used to be emotionally moving, and 69% said it “invites reflection.”
Zaugg said what per chance used to be most relatable about this scene used to be when Whitaker revealed he studied theology.
“For of us that talk with of us, there are this kind of big selection of shock moments the keep that’s factual,” Zaugg said. “Possibly now not that they minored in theology, but adore they are deeply religious or deeply non secular.” A scientific professional who also has an ongoing interest in faith and theology, Zaugg said, exemplifies the complexity of of us who can’t be reduced to a singular identity.
In open-ended responses, viewers incessantly cited the scene’s emotional honesty and realism. “It presentations characters grappling with their beliefs in a meaningful arrangement,” one respondent wrote. But any other said, “I think adore this presentations staunch human confusion and shock.” A third said the moment demonstrated “how faith impacts daily choices and relationships authentically.”
Dritan Nesho, founder and CEO of HarrisX, said the learn affords a “street intention” for producers on guidelines on how to approach faith in options that resonate with audiences, whether or now not the story portrays doubt in perception or leans into its emotional vulnerability.
“As lengthy as these portrayals are approached with thoughtfulness, admire — that they are now not dumbed down but take care of the complexity of human nature and perception in something greater than themselves — I think that that is the recipe for fulfillment,” Nesho said.
Zaugg said the associated rate in the survey’s findings lies in challenging the perception that faith-based mostly mostly storytelling appeals highest to an American tiny target market.
“I don’t think they ticket how gigantic that target market truly is,” she said. “Religion can feel scary to chat about — adore politics — so it creates the appearance that it’s a tiny neighborhood. That makes it easy for filmmakers to oversimplify it or now not give it extraordinary conception, instead of recognizing how worthwhile faith storytelling will also be when it’s done effectively.”
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