In a national statistical study released by the American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 researchers found that most Americans are still Christians, but as a nation, Americans are becoming less Christian and less religious in their beliefs.
The new poll shows that many Americans who once defined themselves as Christians has fallen from a high of 86 percent in 1990 to just 76 percent in 2008 - that's a significant drop of 12 percentage points over an 18 year span.
Of additional significance is the finding that shows that 15 percent of Americans now have no commitment to any religion; that is an almost doubling of the number of Americans who have decided to follow no religious denomination. In fact, the number of Americans without any religious preference outnumbers all other major religious groups except Catholics and Baptists.
Meanwhile, the number of atheists has grown from 900,000 to 1.6 million. Barry Kosmin, a principle investigator for the survey believes the ongoing and more open discussion being witnessed by researchers parallels the recent popularity of numerous books by authors such as Christopher Hitchens' whose "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything" has given people an opportunity to feel greater ease in openly confessing their lack of religious faith.
In larger terms, the nation as a whole is becoming more secular as one time bastions of Catholicism in the New England states and throughout the Midwest have withered away and have followed people relocating to the Sunbelt.
At this point in time, the only rligious group that is showing signs of growth are the evangelicals who are using the glitzy approaches of television and megachurches to attract followers. And the hard economic times are helping to expand the base of evangelical followers as the megachurches display sharp upward trends in patronage.
For a series of excellent interactive maps and other features please go to USATODAY here.
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