A new study published in Social Forces suggests that as traditional religious affiliations decline in the United States, belief in the supernatural is not disappearing but taking more personalised forms of magic. The researchers find that people who prioritise secular reasoning and science over religious authority can still hold magical or superstitious beliefs, so long as they retain some connection to a religious tradition. The work is led by Paul Froese of Baylor University, with Isaiah King of Carson-Newman University and Ruiqian Li of American University, and draws on data from the 2025 Baylor Religion Survey, a nationally representative poll of 1,812 American adults.
Sociologists describe secularisation as a gradual shift in the social authority of religious institutions rather than a wholesale collapse of private faith. As churches and church leaders lose monopoly over moral meaning and behavioural guidance, alternative spiritual practices can fill the void. In this frame, magic and religion have long coexisted but operate in different ways.
Historically, religion and magic have run parallel tracks, yet their functions diverge. Religion tends to require belief in a deity or deities, offers overarching explanations for existence, and binds followers into a shared moral community. Magic, by contrast, relies on transactional efforts to influence supernatural forces for worldly gains and does not depend on formal theology or centralised institutions.
The study emphasises a structural kinship between magic and early scientific thought. Both frameworks treat the universe as governed by mechanical forces that humans can uncover and manipulate to achieve outcomes. Magic, unlike organised religion, can promise tangible results without demanding total devotion to a religious creed, which makes it appealing to some who value scientific discovery yet crave a sense of mystery.
Researchers note that, during the scientific revolution, many natural philosophers dabbled in alchemy and astrology, viewing the universe as a puzzle solvable through observation and secret knowledge. Although modern science moved away from supernatural explanations, the psychological lure of manipulating unseen forces persists, offering a sense of existential agency in a turbulent world.
The project was led by Paul Froese, with co-authors Isaiah King and Ruiqian Li. They set out to understand the supernatural beliefs of people who prioritise science and individual autonomy over organised religion, proposing that a scientific worldview could foster environments in which ancient superstitions and magical thinking flourish outside religious institutions.
Using the 2025 Baylor Religion Survey, the team constructed a secular rationalism scale to identify those who rely on science as the primary means of understanding the world and who favour human experience over religious instruction. High scorers tended to interpret spiritual matters independently and showed less interest in formal religious doctrine.
Three scales measured supernatural beliefs. The first assessed belief in traditional miracles—modern miracles attributed to God. The second captured belief in magic, including ghosts, curses, fortune-telling, communication with the dead, and the idea that inanimate objects can have spirits. The third covered everyday superstitions, such as small rituals to avert misfortune, avoiding jinxes, or discomfort at buying a house where a murder occurred.
Initial analysis showed a clear split between conventional religious belief and personalised supernaturalism. Those with high secular rationalism were markedly less likely to believe in traditional miracles, indicating a rejection of divine, institutional interventions.
Conversely, higher levels of secular rationalism predicted stronger belief in magic and superstition. Rather than erasing all supernatural beliefs, a rationalist outlook appeared to shift allegiance toward more mechanistic, individualised forms of the supernatural.
Demographic factors were also considered. Income showed a modest negative association with belief in magic, while education did not have a statistically significant link to any of the three belief categories.
The researchers then explored interactions with religious participation. They examined how beliefs about God, religious affiliation, and church attendance influenced the relationship between rationalism and magic.
They found that fully secular individuals and non-believers did not experience a boost in magical thinking from their rationalist views. In other words, for those entirely without religious ties, secular rationalism did not translate into greater belief in magic or superstition.
Magic, however, flourished most strongly among those who combined secular rationalism with residual religious practices. The positive link between rationalism and magical or superstitious belief was strongest among people who still believed in God, claimed a religious affiliation, or attended church services. This pattern aligns with a sociological idea known as bounded affinity: moderate religious commitment creates a space where openness to supernatural ideas can co-exist with critical, secular reasoning.
The authors interpret the findings as evidence that traditional religious institutions may police the boundaries of superstition. When people remain attached to faith but adopt secular reasoning, they may venture beyond doctrinal limits into less sanctioned forms of belief such as ghosts, curses, or fortune-telling.
While the study sheds light on modern belief systems, it relies on observational survey data from a single time point, so it cannot establish causation. The researchers caution that the broad umbrella term “magic” covers a range of practices—from casual superstition to firmly held beliefs in psychic phenomena—potentially glossing over important distinctions.
They also note the potential for future work, including how these personalised magical beliefs spread in the digital age, where wellness gurus and spiritual entrepreneurs operate largely outside traditional institutions. The authors conclude with a call for further study of how secular rationalism and religion intersect in contemporary belief landscapes.
The study, titled The magic of secularization, is authored by Paul Froese, Isaiah King, and Ruiqian Li.
