Are there more atheists and agnostics in this country than is commonly supposed? Two studies -- last week's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey from the Pew Forum and one published two years ago -- suggest so.
The 2006 study from the University of Minnesota does not examine the question of how many non- believers there are but rather makes clear the troubling depth of Americans' distrust of them. Asked whether they would disapprove of a child's wish to marry an atheist, 47.6% of the 2,000 randomly selected people interviewed said yes. When asked the same question about Muslims and African Americans, the respondents' "yes" responses fell to 33.5% and 27.2%, respectively, and the responses dealing with Asian Americans, Latinos and other groups were lower.
When asked which groups did not share their vision of society, 39.5% of those interviewed mentioned atheists -- again, a level of distrust far in excess of that shown to other groups. Sociologist Penny Edgell, the study's lead researcher, called the results "a glaring exception to the rule of increasing tolerance over the last 30 years."
The recent study by the Pew Forum reports on the religious affiliations of Americans. It notes that the percentage of self-declared Protestants, although still a bit over 50%, is shrinking; that Catholics make up just shy of 25% of the population, a figure that would be declining were it not for recent immigrants; and that the number of denominations is rising. The study also notes a significant increase in movement from one religious affiliation to another, with almost half of the 35,000 people who participated in this extensive survey saying that they had switched religions.
Of interest to me, however, is that almost one in six (16.1%) of the respondents said they are not affiliated with any particular religious faith, and this figure rises to one in four for 18- to 29-year-olds. Of course, unaffiliated does not mean irreligious, but 4% of Americans say exactly that, with 1.6% and 2.4% describing themselves as atheists and agnostics, respectively. The remaining 12% who are unaffiliated are split more or less in half between those who say they are secular and unaffiliated and those who say they are religious but unaffiliated.
