America’s trademark of “one nation under God” could use a rebrand in a few decades, as a steady number of people abandon Christianity. According to Pew Research, the number of Americans leaving Christianity behind for atheism, agnosticism, or identifying with “nothing in particular” has rapidly increased in the past 30 years.
In the 1990s, 90% of U.S. adults identified as Christians; that figure dropped to 78% in 2007 and 64% this year. In contrast, the rate of Americans who don’t identify with any religious group has increased from 16% to 29% since 2007.
The drop in Christianity typically happens between the ages of 15 to 29, when 31% of people raised Christian move away from the faith or convert to another religion, with 7% unaffiliated after the age of 30.
While the rate of Americans disaffiliating with Christianity has steadily increased, it has more to do with people leaving religion altogether than switching to another religion. Only 6% of the U.S. population identifies with nonChristian faiths, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, whereas religiously unaffiliated people or “nones” account for 30%.
However, research doesn’t predict the population will fall below 50%, at least not until 2070, thanks to Christians maintaining fairly strong retention efforts and multigenerational, highly religious upbringing. Many nonbelievers haven’t completely shunned tradition and still partake in religious practices, including those who believe in some higher power or spiritual force.
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