One-fifth of all Americans have no religious affiliation

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
10/9/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

A third of adults less than 30 years old have no church background

The number of American citizens who have no religious affiliation is growing rapidly. One fifth of all Americans list no religious affiliation, and a substantial number of adults less than 30 years of age likewise remain unaffiliated with any church.

Popularly known as 'nones,' the growth in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans is largely driven by generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of older generations by younger ones.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The unaffiliated have increased from just over 15 percent to just fewer than 20 percent of all U.S. adults in just the last five years. More than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, nearly six percent of the U.S. public, as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation at 14 percent.

These Americans are even less religious in conventional measures, including frequency of attendance at religious services and the degree of importance they attach to religion in their lives.

The survey may be affected by a differing view of the words "religion" and "spiritual."

According to the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, the survey found that many of the country's 46 million unaffiliated adults are religious or spiritual in some way.

Two-thirds, or 68 percent of the respondents said that they believe in God. More than half, at 58 percent say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth, while more than a third, 37 percent classify themselves as "spiritual" but not "religious." One-in-five or 21 percent say they pray every day.

The unaffiliated, with few exceptions say they are not looking for a religion that would be right for them. They increasingly think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in politics.

The lower the age group, the less likely people are to be affiliated.

Popularly known as "nones," the growth in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans is largely driven by generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of older generations by younger ones.

A third of adults under 30 have no religious affiliation (32 percent), compared with just one-in-ten who are 65 and older (9 percent). Young adults today are far more likely to be unaffiliated than previous generations were at a similar stage in their lives.

This report contains capsule summaries of some leading theories put forward by scholars in an attempt to explain the root causes of the rise of the "nones." These theories run the gamut from a backlash against the entanglement of religion and politics to a global relationship between economic development and secularization.

� 2012, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Religious affiliation, Pew poll, America, nones

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

Juneau Alaska
7 months ago
As an atheist myself, people here might assume I welcome this news. I do but only in a limited way do I find it wonderful. Remember, being an atheist only means one thing: a lack of belief in the supernatural. Being an atheist says nothing of one's politics, economic theory, morality, or taste in music. There are a lot of atheists I probably would not get along with! The next step though, already happening, is to harness the power of our large non-religious American demographic and start buying lobbyists to represent us at the highest levels of power in this country. We have a some excellent fledgling organizations already in place to tackle challenges from an evidence-based perspective rather than a faith-based perspective. As an atheist I would like to see more work done to keep religious bias (all religions) out of American Law. I would also like to see our public school system start teaching evolution in primary school along with critical thinking and logic. Our school system too often destroys the natural curiosity of children by just teaching to the test. I would also like to see federal science programs not having to beg for money while weapons of mass destruction are funded with hardly an afterthought. I long for the day when Americans will no longer tolerate diabetic children being denied insulin because their parents claim that faith-healing works. I look to the day when a president stands at the UN and categorically rejects any religion that makes women second class citizens. I could go on, and on, but all in all, this is wonderful news. -Cheers! ~Mike
Warren
7 months ago
Finally some good news but also Mormons are stepping up their evangelism efforts as well as a great advertising campaign. I think they'll snag a lot of disilusioned Christians.
Jim
7 months ago
The young people have no faith because it was never important to their parents. The parents were more concerned with materialism and "feeling good" so God go relegated to the backseat. It is sad because now society's acceptance and advocacy of same-sex relationships is a road block to getting many back to God.
abey
7 months ago
To Obama's words on his "Coronation", "America is no more a Christian country" meaning it was one or making it to be so, in other words "America to the Apostasy.". Not surprising for it is Biblical Prophecy.- to the falling away.

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