People in the U.S. are leaving and switching faith traditions in large numbers. The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

It finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S. That’s similar to what other surveys and polls have also found, including Pew Research.

PRRI found that the number of those who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” has held steady since 2013, but those who identify as atheists have doubled (from 2% to 4%) and those who say they’re agnostic has more than doubled (from 2% to 5%).

As for why people leave their religions, PRRI found that about two-thirds (67%) of people who leave a faith tradition say they did so because they simply stopped believing in that religion’s teachings.

And nearly half (47%) of respondents who left cited negative teaching about the treatment of LGBTQ people.

Those numbers were especially high with one group in particular.

“Religion’s negative teaching about LGBTQ people are driving younger Americans to leave church,” Deckman says. “We found that about 60% of Americans who are under the age of 30 who have left religion say they left because of their religious traditions teaching, which is a much higher rate than for older Americans.”

  • @Kroxx@lemm.ee
    -5•2 months ago

    Religion isn’t evil, people are. All holy books have rules and stories about not being a piece of shit. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of gods wraith and incest/rape or other messed up stuff, but there are also verbatim passages about treating people well, giving, helping, not murdering or stealing. The issue is evil people use these books to justify horrendous acts while simultaneously ignoring everything the books try to teach about being a shit person. I think religion on a PERSONAL basis can help people better themselves, organized religion is the issue. Organized religion always ends up in the same places, greedy, corrupt, abusive, suppressive, and it’s because the leader are abusing their powers for their own benefit. The religion itself isn’t to blame, at least in my eyes.

    You know what would happen if no religions existed? People will just find other reasons to abuse and manipulate people, it’s the unfortunate symptom of people who refuse to listen to their conscience. Everyone knows right before they act what they are about to do is wrong, the ones who ignore this feeling make everyone suffer. As long as those people exist, all the negativity aspects of religion will re-manifest in other ways regardless of the existence of religion.

    I also personally think it’s an important mental exercise to ponder about life, death, afterlife, existence, and the possibility of the divine. You don’t have to believe it of course, just think about it maybe even debate with yourself about it. I also don’t think everyone would benefit from it, but I think a lot of people could. Just my two cents.

    • @drmeanfeel@lemmy.world
      3•2 months ago

      There are a zillion non religious ways that the “good parts” of any religion are realized.

      The ways in which the evil parts of religion manifest are much more unique.

      You want to be “not a piece of shit”? You can take both of your cents and do it without any of the trappings of religion.

      • @Kroxx@lemm.ee
        0•2 months ago

        Of course there are a zillion non religious ways, look at Buddhism!

        No they are the same, there are a zillion non religious ways to abuse people the same way religion does.

        I come to lemmy for engagement on topics I find interesting, if no one gave their two cents what would be the point of the site?

        I also never implied you have to use religion, I think it can work great for some people but It’s not for everyone. Like you said people can have a great moral compass without religion! I just try to not be evangelically for one side or another. I think the logic behind atheism should always be around and people should be exposed to that, I also think the faith behind religion should always be around and people exposed to it. By exposed I specifically mean publicly available and not suppressed by society or legislation. I do not mean forced to participate in.