Young Americans are less religious
Well, this is good news for a godless heathen like myself.
New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church — or to participate in any form of organized religion — than their parents and grandparents.
“It’s a huge change,” says Harvard University professor Robert Putnam, who conducted the research.
Historically, the percentage of Americans who said they had no religious affiliation (pollsters refer to this group as the “nones”) has been very small — hovering between 5 percent and 10 percent. However, Putnam says the percentage of “nones” has now skyrocketed to between 30 percent and 40 percent among younger Americans.
Putnam calls this a “stunning development.” He gave reporters a first glimpse of his data Tuesday at a conference on religion organized by the Pew Forum on Faith in Public Life.
The research will be included in a forthcoming book, called “American Grace.”
I used to go by “none” or “nothing”, until I realized it’s the same thing as atheist (or -ism) without the definitive knowledge of one’s own nonbelief in a higher power.
In any case, I see religion as far more harmful than mere belief in god, so this story this bodes well for me. I am a skeptic. I think gods, ghosts, and leprechauns are all fictional, but religion seems to cause the a lot of harm in the world.
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