Sunday, February 20, 2011

Increase of atheists in the US

Robert Putnam gave a talk at HDS (Harvard Divinity School) on Feb 15th about the results of his analyses in the book Amazing Grace.  He notes the astonishing growth in the number of Americans, believers and nonbelievers alike, who identify with no particular religion. While that figure used to remain constant at 5 to 7 percent of the population, it has risen sharply since 1990. Now, 17 percent of citizens claim no religion, and nearly three in 10 young people are “nones.”


People are opting out of religion because it has become politicized. According to Putnam, the biggest predictor of whether a person identifies as non-religious is whether he or she is accepting of homosexuality.

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Planning for Rites and Rituals Year A Church Publishing 2025

Edited by Canon Andrew Wright. To be published in July 2025   https://www.churchpublishing.org/planningforritesandritualsyeara