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.

    • cm0002@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      We don’t need a sky god to be good people.

      I’d also argue that if a person needs the fear of a sky daddie to be a good person, they’re not really a good person

      • Laticauda@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        I think “good person” is a nebulous and generally subjective term. If some people need an external factor to hold themselves accountable then as long as they willingly seek out that accountability then that’s all that matters to me ultimately, I’m not going to try and micromanage how other people reconcile with their own morality in a large uncaring universe, or act like I’m an authority on how people are supposed to be “good”, all I care about is how they treat other people at the end of the day. But a lot people use religion not as a way to hold themselves personally accountable for their actions, but rather as an excuse to get away with doing bad things and dictating how other people can live their lives without having to suffer consequences. They use it to ESCAPE accountability, and that’s when I take issue with it.

        • BaldProphet@kbin.social
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          7 months ago

          You are more intellectually honest and open-minded than the majority of people in the Fediverse.

    • Nougat@fedia.io
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      7 months ago

      “Religiously unaffiliated” and “atheist” are different things.

      • Shawdow194@kbin.social
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        7 months ago

        “A new study from Pew Research finds that the religiously unaffiliated – a group comprised of atheists, agnostic and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular” – is now the largest cohort in the U.S.”

        • Nougat@fedia.io
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          7 months ago

          That’s a better definition than I have heard previously, but atheists are still a portion of that group and not its whole.

            • Laticauda@lemmy.ca
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              7 months ago

              I mean people who identify as agnostic generally choose to do so specifically because they don’t see themselves as atheist. I’m agnostic myself and I definitely don’t consider myself to be atheistic any more than I consider myself to be religious.

      • Sanguine@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        And to add to this: Religion is not equal to spirituality. Left that door closed for decades.