It should make any established American denomination panic: the dramatic increase in number of Americans leaving organized religion. In 2007, the percentage of the religious unaffiliated was around 15% and now that number is around 20% according to a new Pew study. In the last 20 years, the religiously unaffiliated or “nones” have doubled.
Before churches and denominations panic, this study does not prove people are leaving behind their belief in God – just the church.
There are a few things we need to remember. This poll, as with any poll, asked questions that may have not accurately described the respondents. The Washington Post reports,
Pew offered people a list of more than a dozen possible affiliations, including “Protestant,” “Catholic,” “something else” and “nothing in particular.”
Those “possible affiliations” are terms that may no longer apply. I’m routinely amazed how Christians incorrectly refer to other Christian denominations as “religions”. Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and other Christian traditions are not separate faith systems, but sects of Protestant Christianity. Such semantics usually do not bother the average Christian, but it highlights how religious people often misunderstand or misuse terms and affiliations. This follows the pattern of Christians and disenfranchised Christians who dislike being labeled with added denominational titles. Such titles are innocuous and most Americans cannot tell you the difference between a Reformed church and an Episcopal church.
Does all this mean Americans aren’t religious people anymore?
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