More Americans Are Being Raised Without Religion and Choosing to Stay that Way

[SecularMotion]

With roughly three-in-ten (31 percent) Millennials now identifying as religiously unaffiliated the debate over why this generation is abandoning religion at an unprecedented rate has mostly centered around two explanations: Millennials are leaving because they do not like churches, but will eventually return as the churches change or as they change. Or alternatively, Millennials are leaving because they have fundamental problems with religion and subsequently few will return. Not surprisingly, many religious leaders tend to embrace the first explanation, while nonreligious people see greater merit in the second. Yet, both accounts have overlooked an important shift in religious affiliation: more Americans are being raised in nonreligious homes.

Beginning in the early 1990s, surveys began registering a modest uptick in the number of Americans reporting no formal religious affiliation. Recent surveys put the number at around one-in-five. As the ranks of the unaffiliated have grown so too has the number of Americans who were raised in nonreligious households, albeit at somewhat lower rates. In 1991, four percent of Americans were raised unaffiliated compared to eight percent in 2012. However, the generational differences are much starker. Thirteen percent of Millennials report that they were raised in a nonreligious household. In contrast, among Baby Boomers only five percent report being raised religiously unaffiliated.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-cox/born-and-raised-more-amer_b_3682847.html

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. I never thought of being unaffiliated with a church as the being the same as nonreligious.

[cbayer]

5. It's not the same and sloppy writers are repeatedly making the mistake of

conflating the two.

[pscot]

2. K&R

[on point]

3. As people become better educated, the less they fall for magical thinking

A third explanation

[cbayer]

6. Do you have data that backs this up?

I am assuming that you mean religious beliefs when you say "magical thinking".

It would seem rational to have some data that would support this belief you seem to have. Otherwise, maybe it is you that is exhibiting magical thinking.



http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/11/study-more-educated-tend-to-be-more-religious-by-some-measures/

[trotsky]

9. Interesting link. It actually seems to support the person you're trying to contradict.

"It all falls down to what you consider to be religious,” said Schwadel, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “If it’s simply attending religious services, then no. Highly educated people are not less religious; in fact, they’re more religious.”

“But if it’s saying the Bible is the literal word of God and saying that only one religion is the true religion, then they are less religious,” he continued.

There is nothing about attending religious services that implies magical thinking. However, believing the bible to be the literal word of a god would fall in that category. Further:

Schwadel found that with each additional year of education:
– The likelihood of attending religious services increased 15%.
– The likelihood of reading the Bible at least occasionally increased by 9%.
– The likelihood of switching to a mainline Protestant denomination - Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian USA or United Methodist - increased by 13%.

Item 1: Already covered. Not magical thinking. Item 2: True in many cases - as an atheist, I read the bible far more than I did as a Christian. This is actually pretty common from atheists I have known. Item 3: Indicates a drifting away from the more fundamentalist, rigid faiths - away from the more magical thinking.

So yeah, your own link supports the other person's conclusion, it would seem.

[AlbertCat]

7. As people become better educated, the less they fall for magical thinking

You can clearly see this in action when religious leaders and commentators continually try to dress up their arguments in a scientific-sounding cloak. They poo-poo science, but try to use its language and logic to try to make their unsubstantiated hypotheses.... or Stone Age guesses.... sound legit. The average elementary student can clearly see all the technology that surrounds them makes their life easier, and they also can clearly see it didn't come from church.

[AndyA]

4. People can be religious and not go to church

I think the backlash is against organized religions. They don't practice what they preach. They pick and choose what they want to believe then condemn everyone who doesn't have the same beliefs. They cast the first stone. They don't treat others as they'd like to be treated. They don't do what Jesus would do.

I think that leaves a very bad taste in the mouths of people who recognize these actions.

I live in the Bible belt, and have seen people leave church service, then run a red light so they don't have to wait for the next one. I saw one man flip off someone else immediately after leaving church with his wife and kids in the car because they weren't going fast enough (they were driving the speed limit). I've seen people be rude to wait staff after leaving church on Sunday morning.

Once, I called one of the churches near me where I'd seen some of this type of stuff. I left a message for the Preacher that his message wasn't getting through to his congregation, because they were acting in this manner right after leaving a church service. The lady who took the message seemed to be surprised that these things had happened. I told her if she didn't believe me, to have someone drive around the area when service let out and they'd see the same things.

I don't care for organized religion because I think the church elders live too well. That costs money, which could go to help others. I don't expect them to live in poverty, but I don't believe it's necessary for them to wear new expensive designer clothes every week, drive a new Mercedes, and live in a 4,000 square foot house with elegant furnishings, either.

I've seen the house that Richard and Lindsay Roberts (Oral Roberts' son and daughter in law) lived in. It was a huge, tacky, monstrosity. No doubt it cost a fortune to build and maintain. Meanwhile, Roberts allowed his university to decay. This is just one example, but I don't think this is isolated. Why can't churches just be plain, inexpensive buildings? God or whoever doesn't care what the building looks like, and the money saved could go to help people who really need help.

I heard the new Pope chose a 5 year old Ford Focus as his car, and that he's not living in the super plush papal apartment. He might be a better man than anyone knows, and his actions might set an example for everyone else.

[cbayer]

8. Great post, Andy.

All the data supports your position that the backlash is primarily against organized religion, although overall numbers of those that describe themselves as atheists are growing as well. The hypocritical behavior that you describe and the gross fleecing of some congregations for the profit of those running the place have driven a lot of people away.

Are you talking about the Oral Roberts University outside of Baton Rouge? Isn't that a scary looking place?

The majority of churches are plain, inexpensive places, but they can be dwarfed by those mega-monstrosities that litter the landscape.

The new pope seems like he might be at least voicing some indicators of change, but we shall see. I know there are a lot of catholics all over the world who are really hoping he brings some change.

[AndyA]

10. Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma

It's a cool mid-century modern campus with sixties contemporary structures. Lots of angles with gold reflective glass and modern architecture. Some people hate it, but I like the architecture of this era because it's so unique. ORU is a little garish for my taste, and I think the buildings would look better without the gold reflective glass.

Since so many preachers are located in Tulsa, I've seen first hand how the live and spend money. They're millionaires. They have big houses, drive late model expensive cars, and shop in the most expensive stores and buy expensive things. I think this is unnecessary. Why does someone need to spend $500 on a pair of black pumps when they could get something similar that's comfortable for much less? Then the money the save could actually feed people, or get medicine to them, or improve their living conditions, or pay for an education, or something that would improve mankind.

Lindsay Roberts had a Mercedes convertible AND a Lexus SUV at one point. One vehicle isn't enough? Couldn't she have fit as many people comfortably in a Ford Explorer? Why does a preacher's wife need a red Mercedes convertible in the first place? Excessive consumption, and the money spent for all those things could have gone to repair and maintain the university, provide scholarships to students from families who otherwise couldn't afford to send their kid to college.

Live well, yes, that's fine. But a red Mercedes convertible? Really? A 6,000 square foot mansion with a walk-in dressing closet the size of most people's bedrooms? Really? No thanks, you can get you message across without all that.

And how about the husband wife team on religious TV? Her name is Jan. She has purple hair. He dresses like it's still 1974. They used to have a huge stairway (to heaven?) as a background for their television set. She cries and acts so moved...I think they're both as phoney as can be.

I have high hopes for the new Pope as well--the Catholic Church needs to change, and so do many of the other organized religions.

[cbayer]

11. I think the place outside of Baton Rouge was a Jimmy Swaggart place.

With all the need and poverty in Louisiana, to let this huge facility just fall to ruin was a crime.

At any rate, I place a lot of blame for this on the IRS's failure to enforce the law. Clearly these organizations don't meet the criteria for non-profit. At the very least, the parsonage exception should not be extended to the.

These people are thieves and shysters, imo.

Clearing them out would be a wonderful thing.

[dimbear]

12. Americans have to compete on a world stage now. We can see other nations

putting aside religion with marked success. We can see still other nations cling to religion with tragic consequences.

Do we need any more than just open eyes so that we change?