Call them atheists, agnostics or whatever, unbelievers have some traits in common. For one thing, they’re a minority group -- but a big one.
Ten to fifteen percent of all adult Americans have no religion.[1] That’s at least 24 million people.[2] Non-religious Americans outnumber American Methodists or Lutherans or Presbyterians. Among American religious groups, only the Baptists and Roman Catholics have more adherents.[3]
But not everyone who has no religion goes so far as to call himself or herself an atheist. Self-declared atheists account for less than two percent of the American population, and agnostics are under three percent.[4]
Do those numbers sound tiny? Consider this: The U.S. has more agnostics than Episcopalians or Anglicans or Mormons or Jews. The country’s atheists outnumber the population of Philadelphia or Dallas or Detroit or Idaho or Maine or Hawaii. Combined, atheists and agnostics account for at least 3.5 million Americans -- and that’s the lowest reputable estimate. The actual figure may be millions higher. [5]
What’s more, the nontheists are growing. The number of unreligious Americans has nearly doubled since the end of the 1980s. At the same time, most religions have held steady or lost members.[6]
And the unbelievers are young. The adults likeliest to have no religion are the youngest adults. While nontheists account for ten to fifteen percent of all American adults, they’re 22 to 25 percent of Americans age 18 through 29.[7]
What about Americans who aren’t yet adults? At least five percent of Americans age 13 through 17 are atheists. As many as 18 percent are agnostics. And it looks like the numbers are rising.[8]
(In nearly all age groups, by the way, American guys are more likely than girls to be nonbelievers. “Men always tend to be more secular than women,” according to Phil Zuckerman, a professor of sociology at southern California’s Pitzer College.[9])
But the U.S.A. is only one country. What about the rest of the world?
The next post will get into that subject.
The next post will get into that subject.
[1] Uncredited, “Survey Reveals the Life Christians Desire,” The Barna Group website (July 21, 2008), http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/18-congregations/29-survey-reveals-the-life-christians-desire?q=atheist; Barry A. Kosmin, Ariela Keysar, Ryan Cragun and Juhem Navarra-Rivera, “Highlights,” American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population, Trinity College (2008), http://americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/NONES_08.pdf; Uncredited, “Major Religious Traditions in the U.S.,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey (February 2008), The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life website, http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
[2] Uncredited, “DP-1. General Demographic Characteristics,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/
[3] Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008,” American Religious Identification Survey: Summary Report (March 2009), Trinity College, http://americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/reports/aris_report_2008.pdf; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (February 2008), http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report-religious-landscape-study-full.pdf
[4] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.”
[5] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “Religious Composition of the U.S.”; Uncredited, “Table 27. Incorporated Places With 100,000 or More Inhabitants in 2008 -- Population,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2010), http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2010/tables/10s0027.xls; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Idaho,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Maine,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “Population Finder: Hawaii,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/; Uncredited, “DP-1. General Demographic Characteristics,” U.S. Census Bureau website (2009), http://factfinder.census.gov/
[6] Kosmin and Keysar, “Self-Identification of U.S. Adult Population by Religious Tradition 1990, 2001, 2008”; Uncredited, “The Unaffiliated,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, page 20
[7] Kosmin, Keysar, Cragun, and Navarra-Rivera, “Conclusion,” American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population, page 21; Uncredited, “Summary of Key Findings,” U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, page 5
[8] Melinda Lundquist Denton, Lisa D. Pearce, and Christian Smith, “Personal Religiosity and Spirituality,” National Study of Youth & Religion, (2008), http://www.youthandreligion.org/publications/docs/w2_pub_report_final.pdf
[9] Erin Anderson, “Scientists Investigate If Atheists’ Brains are Missing a ‘God Gene,’ ” The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (April 3, 2010)
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