I recently discovered a treasure trove of data about the sociology of religion in the U.S. though it has been sitting on the web for some time. The survey by Kosmin and Keysar (see here ) involved answers from more than 54 thousand respondents. I am surprised by the large and rising number and character of those who have no religious identification - up to 20%. Interestingly, the stereotype that those with no religious identification is a function of class or education is false. The Nones are not marked by either (see here). The rise of the Nones has come at the expense of mainline Protestant and other Christians (see here) except Catholics whose numbers have remained constant - though as I have discussed before, only because of immigration. If immigration did not help Catholic numbers, the percentage of Catholic decline would be the same as mainline Protestants. Speaking of Catholics, as I have mentioned before, the second largest "religious group" in the United States is former Catholics.
For further discussion of this data, see Mark Silk's February 15th post on his excellent blog Spiritual Politics.
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