Irreligion in the United States

Encompassing agnosticism, atheism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general secularism and even some forms of alternative spirituality such as New Age, various polls have put the population of "non-religious" Americans in largely varying numbers.

A Gallup Poll survey taken in 2008 indicated that religion is not an important part of their daily life for 34% of Americans.

Several groups promoting no religious faith or opposing religious faith altogether – including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Atheists, Camp Quest, and the Rational Response Squad – have witnessed large increases in membership numbers in recent years, and the number of secularist student organizations at American colleges and universities increased during the 2000s decade.

Demographics

A Barna group poll found that about 20 million people say they are atheist, have no religious faith or are agnostic, with 5 million of that number claiming to be atheists. The study also found that "[t]hey tend to be more educated, more affluent and more likely to be male and unmarried than those with active faith" and that "only 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith."

A 2008 Gallup poll which asked the question

"Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God: you believe in God, you don't believe in God but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don't believe in either?"

showed that, nationally, 78% believed in God, 15% in "A universal spirit or higher power", 6% answering "neither", and 1% unsure. The poll also highlighted the regional differences, with residents in the Western states answering 59%, 29%, and 10% respectively, compared to the residents in the Southern states that answered 86%, 10%, and 3%. Several of the western states have been informally nicknamed Unchurched Belt, contrasting with the Bible Belt in the southern states.

The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) found that while 34.8 million U.S. Adults (15.2%) described themselves as "without religion", almost 90% of these answered "none" with no qualifications. Only 1.4 million positively claimed to be atheist, with another 2 million professing agnosticism.

The percentage of people in North America who identify with a religion as opposed to having "no religion" (2001 US) (1991,98,99 CA).

The contiguous U.S. states and Washington D.C. ranked by percentage of population claiming no religion is as follows:

Rank	Jurisdiction	% Irreligious
-	United States	15%
1	Vermont	34%
2	New Hampshire	29%
3	Wyoming	28%
4	Alaska	27%
5	Maine	25%
6	Washington	25%
7	Nevada	24%
8	Oregon	24%
9	Delaware	23%
10	Idaho	23%
11	Massachusetts	22%
12	Colorado	21%
13	Montana	21%
14	Rhode Island	19%
15	California	18%
16	Hawaii	18%
17	Washington D.C.	18%
18	Arizona	17%
19	Nebraska	17%
20	Ohio	17%
21	Michigan	16%
22	New Mexico	16%
23	Indiana	15%
24	Iowa	15%
25	New Jersey	15%
26	Pennsylvania	15%
27	Virginia	15%
28	West Virginia	15%
29	Wisconsin	15%
30	Connecticut	14%
31	Florida	14%
32	Missouri	14%
33	New York	14%
34	Utah	14%
35	Illinois	13%
36	Kentucky	13%
37	Minnesota	12%
38	South Dakota	12%
39	Texas	12%
40	Alabama	11%
41	Kansas	11%
42	Maryland	11%
43	Oklahoma	11%
44	North Carolina	10%
45	South Carolina	10%
46	Georgia	9%
47	Tennessee	9%
48	Arkansas	8%
49	Louisiana	8%
50	North Dakota	7%
51	Mississippi	5%
52	Puerto Rico	2%

Studies on Irreligion

A comprehensive study by Harvard University professor Robert Putnam found that religious Americans are three to four times more likely than their nonreligious counterparts to "work on community projects, belong to voluntary associations, attend public meetings, vote in local elections, attend protest demonstrations and political rallies, and donate time and money to causes -- including secular ones." Nevertheless, the study found that religious people are somewhat less tolerant of free speech and dissent than were non-religious people.

Irreligion in politics

Exit polls suggest that white Americans without religion vote Democratic at roughly the same rates that white Americans with religion vote Republican. According to exit polls in the 2008 presidential election, 71% of non-religious whites voted for Democratic candidate Barack Obama while 74% of white Evangelical Christians voted for Republican candidate John McCain. This can be compared with the 43%-55% share of white votes overall.

In January 2007, California Congressman Pete Stark became the first openly atheist member of Congress. He described himself as "a Unitarian who does not believe in a Supreme Being."

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became the first United States President to acknowledge "non-believers" in his inaugural address, although other presidents such as George W. Bush have previously acknowledged non-believers in different speeches.

See also

• Agnosticism
• Atheism
• Deism
• Ethical movement
• Irreligion
• Religion in the United States
• Religious skepticism
• Secular humanism

External links

• None of the above: the growth of the “non-religious”, Derek Michaud (2009)