Study: Protestants no longer a majority in U.S.
Attendees pray during The Family Research Council (FRC) Action Values Voter Summit September 14, 2012, at a hotel in Washington, D.C. / GettyImages
NEW YORK For the first time in its history, the United States does not have a Protestant majority, according to a new study. One reason: The number of Americans with no religious affiliation is on the rise.
The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. has reached a low of 48 percent, the first time that Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50 percent. The drop has long been anticipated and comes at a time when no Protestants are on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans have their first presidential ticket with no Protestant nominees.
Among the reasons for the change a spike in the number of American adults who say they have no religion. The Pew study, released Tuesday, found that about 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years.
Scholars have long debated whether people who say they no longer belong to a religious group should be considered secular. While the category as defined by Pew researchers includes atheists, it also encompasses majorities of people who say they believe in God, and a notable minority who pray daily or consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious." Still, Pew found overall that most of the unaffiliated aren't actively seeking another religious home, indicating that their ties with organized religion are permanently broken.
Growth among those with no religion has been a major preoccupation of American faith leaders who worry that the United States, a highly religious country, would go the way of Western Europe, where church attendance has plummeted. Pope Benedict XVI has partly dedicated his pontificate to combating secularism in the West. This week in Rome, he is convening a three-week synod, or assembly, of bishops from around the world aimed at bringing back Roman Catholics who have left the church.
The trend also has political implications. American voters who describe themselves as having no religion vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Pew found Americans with no religion support abortion rights and gay marriage at a much higher-rate than the U.S. public at large. These "nones" are an increasing segment of voters who are registered as Democrats or lean toward the party, growing from 17 percent to 24 percent over the last five years. The religiously unaffiliated are becoming as important a constituency to Democrats as evangelicals are to Republicans, Pew said.
The Pew analysis, conducted with PBS' "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly," is based on several surveys, including a poll of nearly 3,000 adults conducted June 28-July 9, 2012. The finding on the Protestant majority is based on responses from a larger group of more than 17,000 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 0.9 percentage points, Pew researchers said.
Pew said it had also previously calculated a drop slightly below 50 percent among U.S. Protestants, but those findings had fallen within the margin of error; the General Social Survey, which is conducted by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, reported for 2010 that the percentage of U.S. Protestants was around 46.7 percent. Analysts disagree on whether the increasing numbers of nondenominational Christians should be counted as Protestant. Pew researchers do include independent Christians in their Protestant figure.
Researchers have been struggling for decades to find a definitive reason for the steady rise in those with no religion.' The spread of secularism in Western Europe was often viewed as a byproduct of growing wealth in the region. Yet among industrialized nations, the United States stood out for its deep religiosity in the face of increasing wealth.
Now, religion scholars say the decreased religiosity in the United States could reflect a change in how Americans describe their religious lives. In 2007, 60 percent of people who said they seldom or never attend religious services still identified themselves as part of a particular religious tradition. In 2012, that statistic fell to 50 percent, according to the Pew report.
"Part of what's going on here is that the stigma associated with not being part of any religious community has declined," said John Green, a specialist in religion and politics at the University of Akron, who advised Pew on the survey. "In some parts of the country, there is still a stigma. But overall, it's not the way it used to be."
The Pew study has found the growth in unaffiliated Americans spans a broad range of groups: men and women, college graduates and those without a college degree, people earning less than $30,000 annually and those earning $75,000 or more. However, along ethnic lines, the largest jump in "nones" has been among whites. One-fifth of whites describe themselves as having no religion.
More growth in "nones" is expected. One-third of adults under age 30 have no religious affiliation, compared to 9 percent of people 65 and older. Pew researchers wrote that "young adults today are much more likely to be unaffiliated than previous generations were at a similar stage in their lives," and aren't expected to become more religiously active as they age.
Popular on CBSNews.com
-
Photos: Underground shots of NYC's Second Ave. subway project New York City's Second Ave. subway was first conceived almost a century ago and when it is completed, it will extend all the way down the eastern side of Manhattan with 16 new stations. CBS News' Don Dahler reports on one of the most challenging public works projects in the country.
- Reporter Michael Hastings dies at 33
- Google asks FISA court to lift gag order on NSA requests
- Girl who lost feet in lawnmower gets prosthetics
- Tornado briefly touches down on Denver airport runways
- Scientists say shipwreck timber in Lake Michigan centuries old
- FAA approval sought for 650-foot-tall Vegas thrill ride
- Report: U.S. teacher training an "industry of mediocrity"
- Taliban: We killed 4 U.S. troops at Afghan air base
Why does expressing my faith automatically mean I'm proselytizing? I'm not forcing anyone to do or believe anything. What you feel is right and good in your heart and soul is between you and God. But when someone talks about God as if He doesn't exist, I want to and have to speak up. It's my duty as a Christian to speak for it. I have a right to, just as much as someone has a right to speak against it.
What I learned from my grandparents: If you're actually living a christian life every day, if your actions reflect your beliefs there is no need to tell people what you believe because they can see it. When I hear someone "expressing their faith" I tend to believe they probably don't believe in it that strongly themselves.
I believe people are becoming afraid to express their faith, or have been shamed when they have admitted to it. All I can say is I'm not. If you don't understand it, question people who do. Investigate for yourself. God wants you to look for Him. Just because I don't always see the sun, doesn't mean it's not there, or not coming back.
Talk to us. You'll find most Christians are intelligent, sensible people. We're not all crazy zealots! We're not perfect. Believe me, a Christian is all too aware of his or her shortcomings. That's why we need God to do what we cannot.
Isn't it interesting how Christianity is the only organized religion in the world that says "You Cannot get to heaven by being good,"? Being good enough isn't the answer, because we can never earn our way by ourselves. That's why Christ is often referred to as our Redeemer, because He earned the way for us. We were born in this world, but we are not of this world.
As for the common question on why does suffering occur, think of it like this: Remember when you learned how to ride a bicycle (or drive a car, etc.) It was difficult to learn, you might have gotten some scraped knees (or speeding ticket) and so on. Learning is painful. Discipline is painful, but boy, do we reap the benefits after!
Would we really know courage if we didn't know fear? Would we know true joy if we didn't know true sorrow? We suffer, not so God can sit back and watch the fireworks, but so we learn how to be better, stronger, patient, tolerant, and loving. And no, He doesn't sit back. He's right in the thick of it with us! He knows the pain, the loneliness, the betrayal.
I think at times we are such a selfish and self-centered society that we actually forget that it really Isn't all about me! Man is not an island. We are a world, and what one does will be felt by others, no matter how small, no matter who sees or who doesn't. (And God sees all, of course, even when you are waking up in the morning, stepping on the scale while picking your nose! Guess what? He loves you anyway!)
I'm not afraid to talk about my faith, nor my love for God and what He has done so selflessly for me. I may forget myself and let myself get in the way, but I will never forget He exists and He loves me with a love I will never understand. But I don't have to understand it all. I just have to believe.