The “nones,” atheists, agnostics, and those who are spiritual but do not belong to any religion, outnumber other religious demographics.
Ten years ago, and for decades before, about eight out of every ten Americans proudly professed they were Christians. But over the past few years that has been changing rapidly. Now, about seven out of ten Americans identify as Christians, and the “nones” are growing quickly.
“Nones” are people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or spiritual but not belonging to any religion.
And for the first time, the nones are the largest single “religious” voting block within the Democratic Party, according to a report from the Pew Research Center released today.
Looking at Pew’s numbers, now 28 percent of Democrats are “nones,” a nine point jump since just 2007. In other words, Democrats are today twice as likely as Republicans to be religiously “unaffiliated.”
The “religious ‘nones’ are now more numerous among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults than are Catholics, evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants or members of the historically black Protestant tradition,” Pew reports. “The religiously unaffiliated also are growing within the GOP, though not as quickly, and they remain far outnumbered by evangelicals and less numerous than Catholics or mainline Protestants within the Republican coalition.”
Pew points to the Millennial generation as largely responsible for this shift.
“The recent decrease in religious beliefs and behaviors is largely attributable to the ‘nones’ – the growing minority of Americans, particularly in the Millennial generation, who say they do not belong to any organized faith.”
Overall, 23 percent of Americans, including Republicans, identify as “nones.”
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