In The News

TIME Shows 18.5% Nonreligious

A poll showcased in the January 30, 1995 TIME magazine shows the "nonreligious" at 18.5% of the U.S. population, outnumbering mainline Protestants at 18%, and outnumbered only by Evangelical Protestants (25.9%) and Roman Catholics (23.4%). TIME's source is the National Survey of Religion and Politics, 1992, University of Akron Survey Research Center.

This survey shows the United States to be more closely in line with international religious affiliation, where the "nonreligious" are consistently the second largest grouping by affiliation (or lack of affiliation).

The 1995 Information Please Almanacshows that the nonreligious and atheists combined worldwide number 1,154,726,000, outnumbered only by Christians (1,869,751,000), and outnumbering the next-largest religious group, Muslims (1,014,372,000).