- cross-posted to:
- atheism@feddit.de
- linkzone@discuss.online
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- atheism@feddit.de
- linkzone@discuss.online
- news@lemmy.world
When Americans are asked to check a box indicating their religious affiliation, 28% now check ‘none.’
A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” – is now the largest cohort in the U.S. They’re more prevalent among American adults than Catholics (23%) or evangelical Protestants (24%).
You must log in or register to comment.
I wonder what the results would be if “Christian, but too embarrassed by those that claim the label to apply it to myself” was an option
If ‘Christian’ were it’s own label it would nearly double the ‘Nones’. Nones = 28% Protestant = 24% Catholics = 23% Total of the two Christian groups reported = 47% That is just adding the highest reporting sects of Christianity, there’s probably a few % points that could be added in there as well.
To be fair, if we go by the recent comments from the pope. (Which maybe we shouldn’t.) Catholics may have more in common politically with the nones than the evangelicals.
Trouble is, 10,000 Nones who aren’t politically organized have less power than one Church with fifty voters that politicians know they can count on.
Great. Now, my younger atheist self can see that it’s not only religious that leads to unnecessary suffering at the population scale. The economics of profit maximization can do it, too. No god required.
His name is Mammon.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” – is now the largest cohort in the U.S.
Back in 2007, Nones made up just 16% of Americans, but Pew’s new survey of more than 3,300 U.S. adults shows that number has now risen dramatically.
Gregory Smith at Pew was the lead researcher on the study, titled “Religious ‘Nones’ in America: Who They Are and What They Believe.”
“And huge numbers say the desire to avoid hurting other people factors prominently in how they think about right and wrong,” says Smith.
People of faith also say they use logic and the avoidance of harm to make decisions, but those factors are in concert with religious tradition and scripture.
But digging deeper into the data shows that men are significantly more likely to say they’re atheist or agnostic whereas women are more likely to describe their religion as ‘nothing in particular.’
The original article contains 690 words, the summary contains 169 words. Saved 76%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Sister Margaret will be delighted to hear this
Christians and Catholics permanently steered me away from being religious before I was even in high school.
I’ve got to believe that a huge reason for that these days is because of how the republican party has deliberately and openly declared themselves the party of jesus and then go do the most inhumane and cruel things to other people. how preachers are openly declaring democrats ungodly and satanic from the pulpit.
i wonder why
There are a few things contributing to this:
- The child molesting done by the Catholic church has turned a lot of people away from what used to be one of the biggest churches in the country
- The rise of evangelical churches and the hollowing out of mainline Protestant churches. Now if you go to church you either have to be a conservative or you have to risk being ostracized.
- It’s clear god has abandoned us.
Although religious ‘Nones’ doesn’t necessarily mean atheist, anti-theist or agnostic, I’ve got to say, never in my wildest dreams did I think this milestone would be achieved during my lifetime.
I saw nones and thought that was a new religion I was OOTL on. It makes sense that agnostics would see a boost eventually. I wonder - why now?
