According to a recent ABC News article that takes a deeper look at polls about religion in America, the 15% of Americans who do not belong to any organized religion is a higher number than most large religions except Catholics and Baptists. The article goes on to say that the number of atheists,has nearly doubled from 900,000 to 1.6 million. Many of the non-church goers, however, still consider themselves spiritual even though they do not belong to an organized religion. Some are exploring other forms of spirituality.
Some 2.8 million Americans now say they identify with new religious movements like Wicca, paganism or spiritualists.
This trend can only continue because young people are disenfranchised with organized religion. They will not just automatically become Christian as they grow older. Sara Robinson at Alternet reports:
And now, a new study reveals that young Americans, both inside and outside Christianity, have indeed taken note of this righteous spectacle– and a large and growing majority of them are absolutely revolted by what they've seen.
A study released last week by the Barna Group, a reputable Evangelical research and polling firm, found that under-30s — both Christian and non-Christian — are strikingly more critical of Christianity than their peers were just a decade ago. According to the summary report, Barna pollster David Kinnaman found that the opinions of non-Christians, in particular, had slid like a rock in that time frame. Ten years ago, "the vast majority" of non-Christians had generally favorable views of Christianity. Now, that number stands at just 16%. When asked specifically about Evangelicals, the number are even worse: only 3% of non-Christian Millennials have positive associations with Evangelicals. Among the Boomers, it's eight times higher.
The trend with young people not associated with religion may change the cultural and political landscape in upcoming decades, a phenomenon to be explored in the upcoming book, "American Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives," being written by Robert Putnam and David Campbell. Writes Michael Gerson for the Washington Post:
The politicization of religion by the religious right, argues Putnam, caused many young people in the 1990s to turn against religion itself, adopting the attitude: "If this is religion, I'm not interested." The social views of this younger cohort are not entirely predictable: Both the pro-life and the homosexual-rights movement have made gains. But Americans in their 20s are much more secular than the baby boomers were at the same stage of life. About 30 to 35 percent are religiously unaffiliated (designated "nones," as opposed to "nuns" — I was initially confused). Putnam calls this "a stunning development." As many liberals suspected, the religious right was not good for religion.
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