rockaction
Footballguy
So I've been looking at the rates of disaffiliation in the United States, where "disaffilation" is synonymous with "no religion." I was motivated to do so by a writer named Matt Yglesias, who has posited that a rapid change in societal mores has been the result of declining religious affiliation and piety.
On how great a scale has this disaffiliation happened and when did it happen, if it happened at all? Well, to quote the Pew Research Center, "In 1972, when the GSS first began asking Americans, “What is your religious preference?” 90% identified as Christian and 5% were religiously unaffiliated. In the next two decades, the share of “nones” crept up slowly, reaching 9% in 1993. But then disaffiliation started speeding up – in 1996, the share of unaffiliated Americans jumped to 12%, and two years later it was 14%. This growth has continued, and 29% of Americans now tell the GSS they have “no religion.”7
Pew Research Center has been measuring religious identity since 2007 using a slightly different question wording – “What is your present religion, if any?” – as well as a different set of response options. Since 2007, the percentage of adults who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” in the Center’s surveys has grown from 16% to 29%. During this time, the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%."
So we've seen self-reported agnostic/atheist individuals increase from 1998 to 2023 from 15% to 30%, roughly, of all Americans.
What do you think this means for the Republic. Anything? Nothing?
I'd be interested to hear what this board thinks about the rapid loss of religion in private life.
On how great a scale has this disaffiliation happened and when did it happen, if it happened at all? Well, to quote the Pew Research Center, "In 1972, when the GSS first began asking Americans, “What is your religious preference?” 90% identified as Christian and 5% were religiously unaffiliated. In the next two decades, the share of “nones” crept up slowly, reaching 9% in 1993. But then disaffiliation started speeding up – in 1996, the share of unaffiliated Americans jumped to 12%, and two years later it was 14%. This growth has continued, and 29% of Americans now tell the GSS they have “no religion.”7
Pew Research Center has been measuring religious identity since 2007 using a slightly different question wording – “What is your present religion, if any?” – as well as a different set of response options. Since 2007, the percentage of adults who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” in the Center’s surveys has grown from 16% to 29%. During this time, the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%."
So we've seen self-reported agnostic/atheist individuals increase from 1998 to 2023 from 15% to 30%, roughly, of all Americans.
What do you think this means for the Republic. Anything? Nothing?
I'd be interested to hear what this board thinks about the rapid loss of religion in private life.