Religion
Related: About this forumChristians Decline Sharply as Share of Population; Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscapeTo be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, and a large majority of Americans roughly seven-in-ten continue to identify with some branch of the Christian faith.1 But the major new survey of more than 35,000 Americans by the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014. Over the same period, the percentage of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%. And the share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus, albeit from a very low base.
The drop in the Christian share of the population has been driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics. Each of those large religious traditions has shrunk by approximately three percentage points since 2007. The evangelical Protestant share of the U.S. population also has dipped, but at a slower rate, falling by about one percentage point since 2007.2
Even as their numbers decline, American Christians like the U.S. population as a whole are becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Non-Hispanic whites now account for smaller shares of evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics than they did seven years earlier, while Hispanics have grown as a share of all three religious groups. Racial and ethnic minorities now make up 41% of Catholics (up from 35% in 2007), 24% of evangelical Protestants (up from 19%) and 14% of mainline Protestants (up from 9%).
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)shenmue
(38,506 posts)kinda.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Hopefully we can look forward to the end of the nightmare of religiosity that has plagued this country for a long time.
Response to Warren Stupidity (Reply #2)
bvf This message was self-deleted by its author.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Christians are NOT leaving the faith in droves!
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Oh wait....
TlalocW
(15,380 posts)The internet. When you have a tool that exposes yourself to more worldviews than what previous generations could ever hope to know about, you start questioning what you believe in.
Also, can't help that so much of religion seems to be - not necessarily is though - hatin' on others. For some people, hatred is their fuel. It's why Limbaugh is still around, why it took so long for Jesse Helms to kick off, etc., but I think for the majority of people, having to keep a high level of hate going can be exhausting.
TlalocW
Which is why in countries with internet censorship, you don't see this happening. It's also why places like North Korea and to a certain extent, China, are so obsessed with controlling their internet pipelines and what is transmitting over it.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)Many of the countries with significant internet censorship also have significant prohibitions against religion.
That may be why you don't see this happening (if by this, you mean people moving away from religion).
cbayer
(146,218 posts)We had some discussions about it here before, and, IIRC, there is nothing to really back it up.
The argument could also be made that the internet makes many more alternative religious/spiritual things available, and I believe there is a growth in that area.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I wish they would break it down more. While the data shows increase in both atheists and agnostics, there are even more significant increases in "nothing in particular", but what does that mean?
I'm glad to see the decrease in christians because the religious right has been so dominant. If people are leaving those christian churches, that's a very good thing.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)though there is some loss in the evangelical churches as well.
Most mainline Protestant churches are relatively liberal. The liberal churches are not holding on to their people.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)They had previously put out analysis that indicated the rise in the none's was due in large part to people leaving more conservative christian churches, but this data does not seem to support that.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)why bother believing, or going to church, if Jesus is going to forgive you anyway? If everyone goes to heaven, there's no incentive to stay in a church and participate if you don't feel like it.
In addition to this pressure, liberal Christians are more likely to question the foundations of their faith, and may find them wanting. Not saying all the unaffiliated are atheists, or going to be atheists, but questioning of their faith, I don't doubt that.
Ask practically any atheist here who was raised religious about their progression from the faith to atheism and most will say that there was a phase of liberal Christianity to possibly deism and/or other faiths. I know that's the path my questioning lead to.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)The liberal churches are much less dogmatic and tend not to use fear as a motivator.
They are more likely to encourage questioning, as you say. I'm not sure the data would support that they are more likely to lead to non-belief, but it may be easier to leave a liberal church if one is a non-believer.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)47. Message to all those who have recommended this:
There is not one scintilla of data presented by this author to substantiate the claim that "christians are leaving the faith in droves". Not one.
The inability of the average web reader to actually get past headlines and be able to analyze information is probably one of the most dangerous trends in the world right now. People will believe anything they are told if it suits their agenda.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=194979