Survey: More Americans identifying with 'no religion'

Survey: More Americans identifying with 'no religion'


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SALT LAKE CITY — A new study is the latest to show that an increasing number of Americans claim no affiliation with organized religion.

Researchers at University of California Berkeley and Duke University report religious affiliation in the U.S. is at its lowest point since it began to be tracked in the 1930s. During a survey taken last year, one in five Americans claimed they had no religious preference. Researchers said that's more than double the number reported in 1990.

In 2012, about 20 percent of respondents reported no religious preference. In 1990, all but eight percent of Americans polled identified with an organized faith.

For last year's survey, researchers asked, "What is your religious preference? Is it Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, some other religion, or no religion?"

Research Highlights
  • A small number (8%) said they were raised with no religion
  • Liberals are far more likely to claim "no religion" (40%) than conservatives (9%)
  • Men (24%) are more likely than women (16%) to claim "no religion"
  • More whites claimed "no religion" (21%) compared to African Americans (17%) and Mexican Americans (14%)
  • More than one-third of 18-to-24-year-olds claimed "no religion" compared to just 7 percent of those 75 and older
  • Midwesterners and southerners were least likely to claim "no religion"
  • Educational differences were small compared to other demographic differences

The survey distinguished between "no religion," which means people who are not part of an organized religion, and "atheists," who do not believe in God. Athiests made up just 3 percent of those surveyed.

The data on religious attitudes is part of the General Social Survey, a biannual poll conducted by an independent research institute at the University of Chicago.

Pew researchers also noted last year that the number of people with no religious affiliation has risen.

However, a different study from Pew showed 85 percent of people worldwide do identify with a religious group.

A 2012 Gallup Poll indicated seven in 10 Americans consider themselves moderately or very religious.

Polls show many of the religiously unaffiliated still hold spiritual beliefs, although they do not identify with any particular faith.

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Linda Williams

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