Q&A: A look at what’s driving the changes seen in our Religious Landscape Study
Fact Tank sat down with David Campbell, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, to explore what the new findings mean.
Religion
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Lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans differ from general public in their religious affiliations
A majority of LGB adults are religiously affiliated, but they are much less likely to be Christian than the general public and are more drawn to smaller, non-Christian denominations.
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Mormons more likely to marry, have more children than other U.S. religious groups
Two-thirds (66%) of U.S. Mormon adults are currently married, down slightly from 71% in 2007 – but still high compared with current rates among Christians overall (52%) and U.S. adults overall (48%).
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Growing share of U.S. immigrants have no religious affiliation
One-in-five immigrants identified themselves as unaffiliated in 2014, an increase of 4 percentage points from the 16% who said so in 2007.
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Mainline Protestants make up shrinking number of U.S. adults
In recent years, the share of Americans who identify with mainline Protestantism has been shrinking significantly, a trend driven partly by generational change.
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With trade on Congress’ agenda, just what does the U.S. import and export?
Though crude oil continues to be the nation’s single biggest import, energy exports have risen sharply. Exports of some metals and agricultural products also have grown rapidly.
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Compared with other Christian groups, evangelicals’ dropoff is less steep
One big reason evangelical Protestants have not declined at the same rate as other major Christian groups is that they are gaining new converts at a greater rate than they are losing people who were raised in the tradition.
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A closer look at America’s rapidly growing religious ‘nones’
The growth of the religiously unaffiliated in the U.S. is occurring across genders, generations and racial and ethnic groups.
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Millennials increasingly are driving growth of ‘nones’
The 35% of Millennials who do not identify with a religion is double the share of unaffiliated Baby Boomers (17%) and more than three times the share of members of the Silent generation (11%).
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5 key findings about the changing U.S. religious landscape
Christians are declining, both as a share of the U.S. population and in total number, while religious “nones” continue to rise.
