People in the U.S. are leaving and switching faith traditions in large numbers. The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

It finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S. That’s similar to what other surveys and polls have also found, including Pew Research.

  • Nougat
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    208 months ago

    “Religiously unaffiliated” and “atheist” are different things.

    • Shawdow194
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      398 months ago

      “A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” – is now the largest cohort in the U.S.”

      • Nougat
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        138 months ago

        That’s a better definition than I have heard previously, but atheists are still a portion of that group and not its whole.

        • @uranibaba
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          38 months ago

          I assumed that unaffiliated meant not belonging to a church while still believing.

          • @[email protected]
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            68 months ago

            I mean people who identify as agnostic generally choose to do so specifically because they don’t see themselves as atheist. I’m agnostic myself and I definitely don’t consider myself to be atheistic any more than I consider myself to be religious.

    • @Sanguine
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      58 months ago

      And to add to this: Religion is not equal to spirituality. Left that door closed for decades.