Article Summary
The article summarizes the findings of a study carried out by Pew Forum on 100 Americans of a different race, income level, gender, age, and location to establish their affiliation or dissociation with religion. The unaffiliated increased by 5% over the last 5 years from 15% to 20% in the US. The current number is 33 million in addition to 13 million agnostics and atheists. The frequency of attending religious-affiliated events is also on the decline.
The research has however discovered that 68% of the unaffiliated adults believe in the existence of God. The rise in religiously unaffiliated persons could be attributed to several theories highlighted in the article. These theories are political backlash, delays in marriage, broad social disengagement, and secularization. Specifically, the article highlights these theories as offering valid explanations for the rebellious young adults’ attitude towards religion.
As captured in the research findings, the article identifies the young adults (18-29 years) as the majority of unaffiliated while senior adults (65+ years) are the least unaffiliated (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 14). On the other hand, the senior adults are the most affiliated while the young adults the least affiliated with Christianity.
In terms of social status, the article notes that the majority of the unaffiliated are persons with high school certificates and below. Persons with a post-graduate education are the least unaffiliated. The same trend is noted with the affiliated Christians, that is, the majority of American adults associating Christianity are those with high school education and below. Persons with a post-graduate education are the least affiliated.
In terms of the income level, the low and mid-level-income Americans are the most unaffiliated while those in the highest income bracket are the least unaffiliated. The same trend is noted for the affiliated group. The white race forms the majority of those unaffiliated to religion at 66% while the Asians are the least unaffiliated at 2%. The white Americans are also the most affiliated group to Christianity religion followed by the blacks and Hispanics (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 17).
Again, the least affiliated group is the Asians. The trend could be attributed to population distribution. The female population is the most unaffiliated at 52% of the sample studied. The same trend is noted in the level of affiliation. The article indicates that 53% of those affiliated with Christianity are women while 47% are men. In terms of the region, Americans living in the South are the most unaffiliated religion at 37% of the sample population. Only 18% of Americans living in the Northeast do not identify with a religion. The South again is leading in the percentage of those associated with Christianity at 39%.
The article indicates that the majority of those unaffiliated to religion are married at 51% of the study population. 23% of the never-married are unaffiliated. The same trend replicates itself in the affiliation group. In general, 65% of the population is religious while 18% consider themselves spiritual. The rest are neither religious nor spiritual. Among the unaffiliated group, 42% are neither religious nor spiritual with only 18% associating with religion.
The article establishes that 57% of the atheists are neither religious nor not with only 7% declaring themselves as religious (The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life 19). As established in the report, the same trend replicates in attendance to religious functions and commitment to prayer. Interestingly, the unaffiliated hold liberal social and political views while the affiliated are inclined towards conservative politics.
Implications
The above findings paint a gloomy picture of the future American society towards religion. The growing trend in unaffiliated by 5% over the last five years is an indication that society becomes less interested in religion as an answer to humanity. Thus, there is an urgent need for religious institutions to remodel themselves to appeal to the general public.
Work Cited
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. “Nones” on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have no Religious Affiliation. Pew Research Center, 2012.