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Religious Switching in the USA

4th October 2022
The Pew Research Report, released in 2022 estimates that over the last 15 years, those identifying as any form of Christian in the US has dropped from 78% to 63%.
The group of people referred to as “nones” has grown steadily by 1 point per year, on average, from 16% to nearly 30%. Is this evidence of secularisation in the USA, or is the nature of religion simply changing?
Between the ages of 15 and 29, 31% of Americans who were raised as Christians become religiously unaffiliated – identifying instead as atheist, agnostic or simply “nothing in particular.” However many of the “nones” do believe in God or a universal spirit, indicating that this may be a demonstration of declining traditional religion, but not declining spirituality. Is this perhaps some evidence of Heelas and Woodhead’s spiritual revolution?
"Religious switching goes in all directions. It might be a switch from one kind of Christianity to another, from Christianity to another religion or from Christianity to no religion at all."
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