"Nones" Are Now the Largest Religious Group in America

Donald Trump and Republican candidates and officer holders up and down the ballot continue to pander to and outright prostitute themselves to evangelical "Christians" and Christofascists even as the number of such far right extremists continue to fall in numbers.  Meanwhile, as a new Pew Research survey confirms, the number of "Nones," those who have walked away from organized religion and profess no religious affiliation, have surged in numbers, likely in my view because the far right "Christians" have sullied the Christian brand and turned it into something ugly.  Tellingly, in sharp contrast to evangelicals/Christofascists who gleeful embrace ignorance, Nones put high value on scientific knowledge and logic. While the survey findings suggest why the shrinking number evangelicals/Christofascists are increasingly hysterical about inflicting their beliefs - e.g., abortion bans and book bans - on a growing majority of the population, it makes one wonder why the Republican Party continues to tie its future to a shrinking part of the overall electorate.  Yes, the "Christian" extremists show up for primary caucuses and primaries as the recent Iowa and New Hampshire events confirmed, they increasingly are not  plentiful enough in numbers to win a general election, particularly when Republicans' pushing the evangelical/Christofascist agenda alienate more secular voters.   Both NPR and the Washington Post look at the Pew findings which in a sane political party would make the GOP reconsider it unholy alliance with "Christian" extremists most notable for their hatred of others.   First, here are highlights from NPR:

When Americans are asked to check a box indicating their religious affiliation, 28% now check 'none.'

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. They're more prevalent among American adults than Catholics (23%) or evangelical Protestants (24%).

Gregory Smith at Pew was the lead researcher on the study, titled "Religious 'Nones' in America: Who They Are and What They Believe."  He says the growth of Nones could affect American public life.

"We know politically for example," Smith says, "that religious Nones are very distinctive. They are among the most strongly and consistently liberal and Democratic constituencies in the United States."  And that could change electoral politics in the coming decades.

The political power of white Evangelicals has been well-reported in recent decades, but their numbers are shrinking while the number of the more liberal Nones is on the rise.

While many people of faith say they rely on scripture, tradition and the guidance of religious leaders to make moral decisions, Pew found that Nones say they're guided by logic or reason when making moral decisions.

"And huge numbers say the desire to avoid hurting other people factors prominently in how they think about right and wrong," says Smith.

Demographically, Nones also stand out from the religiously affiliated.  Nones are young. 69% are under the age of fifty.  They're also less racially diverse. 63% of Nones are white.

Similar studies by Pew and other groups such as the Public Religion Research Institute have found that people of color are far more likely to say religion is important in their lives.

But Smith says to keep in mind that the Nones are comprised of three distinct groups – atheists, agnostics and those who describe themselves as 'nothing in particular.'

Nones who describe themselves are atheist or agnostic are far more likely to be white. "People who describe their religion as 'nothing in particular' are more likely," says Smith, "to be Black or Hispanic or Asian."

At first glance, Nones appear to be evenly divided be gender. But digging deeper into the data shows that men are significantly more likely to say they're atheist or agnostic whereas women are more likely to describe their religion as 'nothing in particular.'

The piece in the Washington Post has these highlights:

Over the past half-century, as the number of Americans with no religious affiliation has gone from 5 percent to nearly 30 percent, the emphasis has often been on what they were leaving. A report released Wednesday on the “nones” finds that they are diverse, young, left-leaning and may offer clues to the future of making meaning in a secularizing country.

The Pew findings seem to debunk, or at least complicate, the idea that people who leave religion are hostile toward it. The overwhelming majority of nones say religion causes division and intolerance and encourages superstition and illogical thinking, but 58 percent also say religion helps society by giving people meaning and purpose.

Trying to understand how nones construct their values, the study found that the group places a relatively high value on science. Forty-four percent of nones say there is a scientific explanation for everything, even if they don’t understand how everything works, compared with 16 percent of religiously affiliated Americans. Fifty-six percent of nones say science does more good than harm, compared with 40 percent of the religiously affiliated who say the same.

Cragun said he subscribes to a theory of Swiss sociologist Jörg Stolz that a key driving force behind religion’s decline is “the culmination of growing autonomy in society. People don’t like being told what they should do or what they should not do, especially when the teller isn’t especially qualified. Increasingly, people are saying, ‘Why do I need a pastor to tell me what to do? What makes them any more insightful than this academic journal?’ The rise of the nones is the manifestation of a move toward greater autonomy of individuals.”

Hopefully, Nones will recognize that today's Christofascist dominated GOP is a threat to their personal autonomy and get out and vote Democrat in November, 2024.   Only repeated electoral defeats will convince amoral Republicans who only care about power that it is time to jettison evangelicals and Christofascists.