Ethics

Religious Belief on the Decline in America

By Ed Brayton

The American Religious Identification Survey, put out by The Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Connecticut, has found that religious belief by Americans has declined in statistically significant ways in the last 19 years.

Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

Northern New England surpassed the Pacific Northwest as the least religious region, with Vermont reporting the highest share of those claiming no religion, at 34 percent. Still, the study found that the numbers of Americans with no religion rose in every state.

"No other religious bloc has kept such a pace in every state," the study's authors said.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).