As the percentage of U.S. adults who do not identify with a religious group grows, we asked these people to explain, in their own words, why they left.
A growing share of self-identified “evangelical or born-again” Protestants (41%) says it has become more difficult to be an evangelical Christian in the U.S. in recent years; just 34% answered the question the same way in September 2014.
Religious “nones” make up 23% of U.S. adults, up from 16% in 2007. And only 27% of those “nones” are absolutely certain about God’s existence, down from 36% in 2007.
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%).
The religious face of America is largely a Christian one, with roughly seven-in-ten Americans belonging to that faith. But some of the nation’s biggest metropolitan areas have a very different look.