Religiously unaffiliated people, often referred to as “nones,” now make up the largest religious category in the US, according to a new report by the Pew Research Centre.
Pew’s new report, released January 24, shows that nones now account for 28% of the total US population, outstripping the next largest group, Catholics, who make up 20%.
The recent data is consistent with a long-term trend of Americans rejecting religious affiliation in growing numbers, with the percentage nearly doubling from 16% in 2007.
The rise of the nones has resulted in not only lessened religious participation but also a decrease in civic engagement with nones being less likely to vote, do volunteer work, or have strong friend groups or community, according to Pew.
What is a ‘none’?
Although nones do not ascribe to a particular Church or religious group and are much less likely to attend Church services, not all are atheists. Only 17% of nones identify as atheist, while 20% describe themselves as agnostic. The majority of nones, 63%, simply identify themselves as “nothing in particular”.
Most nones, 69%, do still believe in God, though only 13% of them believe in God as described in the Bible. Additionally, 49% of nones say they are spiritual or that spirituality is very important to them.
On average, nones are younger than religious people with 69% being under the age of 50 versus only 45% of religiously affiliated people being under 50.
While atheists and agnostics tend to have attained higher levels of education than religious people, persons in the “nothing in particular” category tend to have less education, with 27% having graduated college compared with 34% of religiously-affiliated people having completed college.
Most nones, 67%, cite disbelief and scepticism as their reason for not ascribing to a religion, according to Pew.
Just over half, 55%, say they are not religious because they don’t like religious organisations or have had bad experiences with religious people, while 44% say they don’t need religion or don’t have time for it.
What do they believe?
Nearly half of nones, 43%, believe that organised religion does more harm than good while over half, 56%, believe that science does more good than harm.