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.

  • key
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    110 months ago

    Keep in mind that 2/3rds of “nones” are theists.

    • tygerprints
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      210 months ago

      That’s very depressing. I wish people would expend as much energy on helping other people as they do on their nutjob beliefs.