America Growing More Secular
According to CUNY's definitive American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), the number of "Nonreligious" American adults more than doubled between 1990 and 2001 while the number of "Religious" and "Christians" declined. The "Nonreligious" are now the fastest growing segment of the population.
| 1990* | 2001** | |||
| NONRELIGIOUS | 8% (14.3 million) | 14.3% (29.4 million) | ||
| Religious | 90% | 81% | ||
| Christian | 86% | 77% | ||
| Mormon/LDS | 1.4% (2.5 million) | 1.3% (2.8 million) | ||
| Jewish | 1.8% (3.1 million) | 1.3% (2.8 million) | ||
| Muslim/Islamic | 0.3% (0.5 million) | 0.5% (1.1 million) | ||
| Refused to reply | 2.3% | 5.4% | ||
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Regarding religious affiliation, the authors note:
ARIS survey shows 16% of Americans are "secular"Regarding religious views, the authors of CUNY's survey note: "In all, sixteen percent (16%) described their outlook as secular or somewhat secular while seventy-five percent (75%) described their outlook as religious or somewhat religious. . . . [A]t least ten percent of the population clearly and unambiguously considers itself 'secular' rather than 'religious.' Another six percent regard themselves as 'somewhat secular.' " Overall, the authors note: "The greatest increase in absolute as well as in percentage terms has been among those adults who do not subscribe to any religious identification." * 1990 National Survey of Religious Identification (NSRI). 113,000+ samples This information provided by:
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