More than 1 in 4 American adults identify as “religious nones,” meaning they consider themselves to be “atheist,” “agnostic” or “nothing in particular,” according to a report from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday.
According to the new set of data, 28% of Americans classify themselves as “nones,” 17% of whom identify as atheist, 20% as agnostic and 63% as “nothing in particular.” Most “nones” said they were raised to be religious, and the majority were raised in Christian households.
The data was mostly based on a Pew Research Center survey of 11,201 respondents that was conducted over the course of a week last summer. The report also drew on a few other surveys conducted in recent years and on Pew’s National Public Opinion Reference Surveys.
“When asked directly why they are not religious, two-thirds of ‘nones’ say they question a lot of religious teachings or don’t believe in God,” the report said.
While that’s good news overall, I’m unhappy to think that it means 75 percent of adults still believe in superstitious dark ages fictional nonsense. At least the upcoming generation seem to be smarter people and less apt to fall under the influence of the evils of religious belief.
It’s more healthy not to believe in a god, than to believe in one. And it’s more healthy to put your energy into human relationships that into fictional religious ones.
I have to agree with you on that one. Religion is a disease of the minds.
Religion is (I think Marx said) the “opiate of the people.” And always the poorest people with the least education seem the most readily duped by religious nonsense. And in my opinion, they’re the ones who can least afford it.
Keep in mind that 2/3rds of “nones” are theists.
That’s very depressing. I wish people would expend as much energy on helping other people as they do on their nutjob beliefs.