[FoRK] The Fastest Growing Religion in America Is "Unaffiliated."

[Stephen D. Williams]

Look at those curves...
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/25/us/0226-nat-webRELIGION.jpg

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/125181.html
In a survey last year, the Christian marketing consultancy, the Barna 
Research Group, found that youths are increasingly rejecting 
Christianity and secular beliefs are spreading. As the Ventura County 
Star reported:

    Only 60 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds describe themselves as 
Christians, according to Barna Group President David Kinnaman. He 
believes that figure represents "a momentous shift," noting that 77 
percent of Americans over age 60 consider themselves Christians.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/survey-finds-religious-landscape-in-flux/20080225170509990001
More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith of their 
childhood for another religion or no religion at all, the survey found. 
Factoring in moves from one stream or denomination of Protestantism to 
another, the number rises to 44 percent.

One in four adults ages 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with a religious 
institution.

"In the past, certain religions had a real holding power, where people 
from one generation to the next would stay," said Penn State University 
sociologist Roger Finke, who consulted in the survey planning. "Right 
now, there is a dropping confidence in organized religion, especially in 
the traditional religious forms."

Lugo said the 44 percent figure is "a very conservative estimate," and 
more research is planned to determine the causes.

"It does seem in keeping with the high tolerance among Americans for 
change," Lugo said. "People move a lot, people change jobs a lot. It's a 
very fluid society."

The religious demographic benefiting the most from this religious churn 
is those who claim no religious affiliation. People moving into that 
category outnumber those moving out of it by a three-to-one margin.

The majority of the unaffiliated -- 12 percent of the overall population 
-- describe their religion as "nothing in particular," and about half of 
those say faith is at least somewhat important to them. Atheists or 
agnostics account for 4 percent of the total population.