Non-Religion on the Rise in America
| by | Eric Lyons, M.Min. |
Three extensive surveys over the past 20 years have revealed that a
growing number of Americans are becoming less and less religious. In
1990, 8.2% of Americans claimed to be non-religious, most notably
agnostics and atheists (Kosmin, 1991). In 2001, that number had jumped
to 14.1% (Kosmin, et al., 2001), and by 2008 it had reached 15% (Kosmin
and Keysar, 2009). Based upon a combined total of 217,742 residential
households surveyed (an average of 72,580 per effort) in the contiguous
United States, the percentage of non-religious Americans has almost
doubled in two decades. Whereas in 1990, one out of every 12 Americans
claimed to be non-religious, today nearly one out of every six Americans
claims no religious affiliation. [NOTE: The
percentage of non-religious individuals would be even higher were it not
for the many millions of Catholic Hispanics who have migrated to the
United States over the past two decades.]
Sadly, the America that we inhabit today is a very different country
(religiously speaking) than it was when I grew up in the 1980s, and
drastically dissimilar to the country in which my father was reared in
the 1940s. In 1947, for example, 89% of Americans identified themselves as Christian Protestants or Catholics, in addition
to the millions of other “religious” Americans (e.g., Jews, Mormons,
Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.; Gallup and
Lindsay, 1999, p. 7), which would have left comparatively very few skeptics, agnostics, and atheists.
The odds of you crossing paths with an atheist, agnostic, or skeptic at
some point in the next few months are pretty high. The likelihood of
your children, grandchildren, nephews, or nieces running into atheistic
professors or skeptical students in high school or college is very high
(considering many public schools and universities are breeding grounds
for non-religious Americans). More than ever, Christians need to equip
themselves with the tools and weapons to help them “fight the good fight
of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). “For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down
arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of
Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Being the time of the year when many are purchasing items for others,
we hope that you will consider equipping your friends and family members
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and give them away to college students who may very well be struggling
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your friends or family members a link to this site, where they can join
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The Lord has blessed Apologetics Press with a 30+ year history. During
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REFERENCES
Gall, George Jr. and Michael Lindsay (1999), Surveying the Religious Landscape: Trends in U.S. Beliefs (Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing).
Kosmin, Barry (1991), The National Survey of Religious Identification,
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CCwQFjAD&url=
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jewishdatabank.org%2FArchive%2FNSRI1990-
Research_Report_with_Selected_Tabulations.pdf&ei=
nH_1TIvqG8WBlAfd5Jz4BQ&usg=AFQjCNHASEXKYZTsxzKlRe24U8-4foBJQA.
Kosmin, Barry A., Egon Mayer, and Ariela Keysar (2001), American Religious Identification Survey, www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris.pdf.
Kosmin, Barry A. and Ariela Keysar (2009), American Religious Identification Survey, www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf.
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