Pew poll: 1 in 5 Americans in nonreligious (hell, churches, atheist, agnostic)

[415_s2k]

33 million Americans do not identify as part of a religion, 13 million of whom identify as atheist or agnostic.

Survey: One in five Americans has no religion – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

While 88% of those polled are "not looking for religion," 68% still say that they believe in god, 37% define themselves as "spiritual but not religious," and 20% say that they still pray every day.

As a non-religious milennial, I can't say I'm overwhelmingly surprised at these numbers and expect to see them rise.

[SeekerSA]

It is interesting everytime we see these stats. I do however wonder if it truly represents the populace?

In SA we have 78% or so self identifying as xian which is similar to the US. However, the small town I stay in which has about 25 churches, there are not enough pews to accommodate these 78 percenters. In fact reality shows by a drive around on Sunday morning, folk are generally irreligious and the numbers attending faithfully in the less than 2% mark. In a town of 50k that is about 1000 folk active in church on Sundays (if it is not pay weekend). The true attendance should be in the order of 35000+ which would account for shift workers not being able to attend. As we have seen numerous times here, these non attendees are in fact not considered true christiansâ„¢ as I have also been accused of despite the fact I was active 4-5 out of 7 days a week when I was a woo.

The bottle stores and malls have no issues in this regard and you will always find more folk there than in church. There are no longer blue laws and that means you can get wine from the supermarkets on Sundays (Usually the cheap rubbish, most bottle stores stay closed by election but the huge booze dealers in the city are open all days except Christmas). Not that I think drinking is a sin but the devout do.

Then of course there's the matter they curse like sailors, a lot of them have no compunction in "scoring" (stealing) stuff from their employers, break the speed limit, give the middle finger salute and so on and so forth.

At the end of the day, holding them up to their own standards they fail miserably despite the fact that they of all people should know better.

So what does this say? All it proves you cannot define or differentiate people merely by what they answer on a poll or census. If you extended the questions to how many times they attend church, they will feel pangs of guilt and probably lie w/o compunction as to the answer but very far from the truth.

So who am I to judge then? No one, but I am not the one trying to impose my (lack of) beliefs on anyone so I simply use the measure that they measure out (that is biblical btw) and use their own loose standards against them.

The only time the two percenters get any traction here is when crap hits the fan but the last time they enjoyed that was pre independence 17 years ago when they all thought the black government would impose communism and shut down the churches etc. Very odd how similar the US is to SA in this regard huh?

As far as the way evangelicals judge everyone else, yup, I am a heathen but then I can nonchalantly side with them and say the 78 percenters are in fact 97% NOT true christiansâ„¢.

This is why I personally have a major issue around the ad populum statistics. The only difference between me and the average christian is that I have Sundays as pure leisure and do not feel one once of guilt over it and you will probably not tell us apart in a pub or the mall. You may in fact be fooled as in RL I tend to have a vocabulary that negates the need for F bombs and other cussing.

By their standards, I fair better as I am still on marriage1.0 after 28+ years, I have no debt other than my credit card which in USD is just over $1000.

I am sure someone will offer a rebuttal that you do not need to attend church to be a christian and I agree. However, when attending even if you in the process of losing your faith, no one and I mean NO ONE will question your motives as to your faith. So the church DOES play a role in the way people suss each other out.

To support this assertion, how many times do we not hear evangelists say to their alter call respondees, find a bible based church (that is one that preaches eternal torment btw) and read the bible. If only they would do the latter "religiously" then we would have a lot more heathen on our stats.

So despite the findings of this poll, I can safely assert that I am in fact part of the "majority" (based on their standards) For the OSAS folk I am still in their eyes a believer, just backslidden one but we all know that is a lie from the pit of hell now don't we?

[Fred314X]

To begin with, that Poll was a lot of nonsense--as are most polls. And how can you tell it's useless? Because they don't even tell you how many people were surveyed! Typically, that number is buried somewhere near the end of the article, but this one doesn't mention it at all!

Of course, they throw percentages around like manhole covers.

[JB from NC]

Fred, you'll have to go to the report itself for hard numbers.

Statistics on Religion in America Report -- Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

"Appendix 4: Survey Methodology" should have the population numbers.

[Fillmont]

Originally Posted by Juliet Bravo

Fred, you'll have to go to the report itself for hard numbers.

Statistics on Religion in America Report -- Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

"Appendix 4: Survey Methodology" should have the population numbers.

Is this the most recent report? It shows that the polling was all done 5 years ago, which seems an awful long time in poll years.

Originally Posted by The Pew Report

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey completed telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 35,556 adults living in continental United States telephone households. The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI). Interviews were done in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source, LLC (PDS), and Schulman, Ronca and Bucuvalas, Inc. (SRBI), from May 8 to Aug. 13, 2007. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies.

[Fillmont]

Indeed, the new report is a smaller one - 2,973 adults were polled.

Report!

[bchris02]

It's a generational thing. Only about 30% of the under 30 crowd considers themselves Christian and less than 50% are sure about the existence of God. 3 out of every 4 Christian college freshman become atheist/agnostic seniors.

[TheArchitect]

Originally Posted by bchris02

It's a generational thing. Only about 30% of the under 30 crowd considers themselves Christian and less than 50% are sure about the existence of God. 3 out of every 4 Christian college freshman become atheist/agnostic seniors.

Very true. In a few decades, America will be similar to europe in secularity.

It is encouraging to observe that the west is gradually moving past ancient superstitions and cults and more firmly into an age ruled by reason. Unfortunately there are other regions (middle east in particular) where this is not happening.

‘No Religion’ on the Rise: 19.6% Have No Religious Affiliation - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

[Woodrow LI]

I suspect if people were more honest with themselves the percentage of non-religious would be higher.

I wonder what it is people consider as being religious.


It seems that for many, perhaps most, to be religious is words and not actions.

[TRANSPONDER]

I note all that is said regarding polls and how they can be skewed. This could even be regarded as a clever theist ploy to scare the faithful into being more devout so as to reverse the trend, but I don't really believe that.

I rather think that in a vague way, the view is shifting and again and again the surveys that would have had religious backsliding at a derisory minority - for whatever reason of viewpoint or the mechanics of the poll - are appearing to give the goddless pondscum a bigger slice of the pond than heretofore.

I always used Seeker's point that a lot of census Christians tipped the scale on a poll but not in church attendance, and I still think it so, even if the figures look better for us. It just suggests that more feel able to drop the pretense.