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%).

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“We know politically for example,” [Gregory Smith at Pew] says, “that religious Nones are very distinctive. They are among the most strongly and consistently liberal and Democratic constituencies in the United States.”

  • @[email protected]
    32•9 months ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]
      9•9 months ago

      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.

    • @[email protected]
      4•9 months ago

      Idk why people who think Jesus died for them can’t just accept each other and just all be Christians. It shouldn’t matter the specifics of your Christianity as long as your core beliefs match the others, ya know?

      I’m also a life-long atheist who attended a bunch of different churches with friends growing up to see what they were like. I don’t understand how someone can believe in a God. What makes even less sense is why people, who believe in the same God with the same kid who sacrificed himself and preached love and all that, hate each other so fuckin much.

      • @[email protected]
        5•9 months ago

        Because the Christians who were reasonable were murdered by the crazies we have today. Quite literally, I’m not joking.

        The Gnostic Christians were killed off by the crazies. All that hereric hunting that happened during the dark ages? Yea… it wasn’t just “witches” and Pagans and satanists or whatnot.

        … Not that many of the sects didn’t believe crazy things; it’s still religion. Though the important thing is many were analyzing the material world a whole lot better than modern Christians born and bathed in capitalism.

        • A Phlaming Phoenix
          1•9 months ago

          What exactly is reasonable about supernatural beliefs? The reason they disagree is because religious ideas consist of made up nonsense. This naturally leads to fracturing because instead of following observable, repeatable facts to their logical conclusion, religions make up anything they want and then stand by it regardless of what observational evidence tells us. The Hubble space telescope didn’t exactly fail when it smashed into the firmament, you know.

          Anything can be true when all you need to be convinced that it’s true is faith.

          • @[email protected]
            1•9 months ago

            I’m going off memory here but if it’s correct they held a live and let live dogma. No convert or kill mentality, do good above all else etc.

      • Zloubida
        1•9 months ago

        I (mainline Protestant) don’t hate American evangelicals. But I don’t want to be associated with people hating queer people or denying women basic rights like abortion.