American devotion to religion is waning, according to new study

[SecularMotion]

Religion in the United States is declining and mirroring patterns found across the western world, according to new research from UCL and Duke University in the United States.

The study published in the American Journal of Sociology shows a drop in the number of Americans who claim religious affiliations, attend church regularly and believe in God. It also finds that these drops are driven by generational differences.

Professor David Voas (UCL Institute of Education) said: “These declines aren’t happening fast, but the signs are now unmistakable. It has become clear that American religiosity has been declining for decades, and the decline is driven by the same dynamic of generational change that has driven religious decline across the developed world.”

The study examined US data from the General Social Survey (GSS), which is conducted every two years, and compared it with similarly broad data from Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The results show that people have slowly become less religious over time.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0316/100316-American-devotion-to-religion-is-waning

[PatrickforO]

1. If today's crazy 'christians' are any example, then it can't fade away fast enough.

[cleanhippie]

3. How does one determine which ones are crazy?

[PatrickforO]

4. In my case, subjectively. I believe that 'christians' who

think they should prohibit my daughters from accessing abortion services, who believe they should take over school boards and force their 'creationist' agenda down my children's throats in the schools I help fund with my tax dollars, and those who believe the earth is 6,000 years old based on genealogies in the Bible and that Jesus coexisted with dinosaurs, don't believe in climate change, and those who believe that salvation is individual and that success is measured by the number of new converts are...

CRAZY

in my opinion.

Now don't get me wrong - they can believe however they want - I don't care. JUST DON'T TRY AND FOIST YOUR BELIEFS OFF ON ME OR MY FAMILY.

-Don't come to my door wanting to talk about Jesus
-Don't try and force my public schools to teach 'creationism'
-Don't try and overturn Roe v. Wade because you don't think it's 'moral'
-Don't try to keep things screwed up politically because the 'end times' are coming anyway

[cleanhippie]

5. While I couldn't agree more with you, I disagree that they are any more crazy than the ones

that don't do the things you listed. To me, "crazy" comes from the belief in absurd and ludicrous things, like people coming back to life after being killed, crackers and wine turning into flesh and blood, etc. YMMV.

[Hoppy]

2. The Star-Ledger (N.J.) reported that N.J. is a state among the highest with people holding religion

as important in their lives.

Where should I move to?

[Brettongarcia]

8. Mass., NH, WA, OR...?

All good.

[edhopper]

9. NJ is a very Catholic State

much different than places where the Fundies dominate.

[Arugula Latte]

11. We here in in the urban Northwest are among the least churched people in the nation.

We tend to worship things that are real -- like beautiful, giant, life-giving trees.

[Iggo]

6. Not fast enough.

[RussBLib]

7. it takes time for people to come to their senses

...and I have "discovered" that you cannot convince anyone of the wrongness of their beliefs. You can perhaps expose them to things that could help them "see the light" but you have to let them evolve organically. If they have no interest in evolving, you ain't gonna have any effect. At least that's my experience.

[Arugula Latte]

10. Wonderful!