More than 1 in 4 U.S. adults identify as religious "nones," new data shows. Here's what this means.
More than 1 in 4 American adults identify as "religious nones," meaning they consider themselves to be "atheist," "agnostic" or "nothing in particular," according to a report from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday.
According to the new set of data, 28% of Americans classify themselves as "nones," 17% of whom identify as atheist, 20% as agnostic and 63% as "nothing in particular." Most "nones" said they were raised to be religious, and the majority were raised in Christian households.
The data was mostly based on a Pew Research Center survey of 11,201 respondents that was conducted over the course of a week last summer. The report also drew on a few other surveys conducted in recent years and on Pew's National Public Opinion Reference Surveys.
"When asked directly why they are not religious, two-thirds of 'nones' say they question a lot of religious teachings or don't believe in God," the report said.
The majority of "nones" said they still believe either in God (though not necessarily God "as described in the Bible") or another higher power. About half of "nones" said they consider themselves to be "spiritual." Only 29% of "nones" completely rejected the notion that there is "any higher power or spiritual force in the universe," and only 10% said they regularly attend religious service.
While some "nones" said they believe religion causes harm, many also agreed that religion does "some good," according to Pew. Overall, 41% of respondents said religion does equal amounts of good and harm.
"They are not uniformly anti-religious," the report noted, adding that while most "nones" reject the idea that science can explain everything, they also hold more positive views of science than American adults who are religiously affiliated.
Pew data collected in 2022 showed that the majority of American adults saw declining religiosity in the country as a bad thing, and 45% of American adults said they believed the U.S. should be a "Christian nation."
"'Nones' tend to vote less often, do less volunteer work in their communities and follow public affairs at lower rates than religiously affiliated people do," the Pew report said, adding that the latest data shows that, "on a variety of measures, lower rates of civic engagement are concentrated among 'nones' whose religion is 'nothing in particular.' Atheists and agnostics tend to participate in civic life at rates matching or exceeding religiously affiliated people."