Growth in the segment of the adult population "identifying with no religion" is significant. "In 1990, 14.3 million or roughly 8% identified with this category. The new ARIS count now shows that the non-believer population has grown to 29.4 million, roughly 14.1% of the American community. The ARIS team notes that the 1990 figure "may be downwardly biased due to a slight change in the working of the key survey question in 2001. In seeking a more accurate measure of identification, the clause 'if any' was added this year to the question, 'What religion do you identify with?'""The study introduction quotes an observation by anthropologist of religion Diana L. Eck (A New Religious America: How a 'Christian County' Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation, Harper - San Francisco, 2001) who observed, "We the people of the United States now form the most profusely religious nation on earth." "Often lost amidst the mesmerizing tapestry of faith groups that comprise the American population," notes ARIS, "is also a vast and growing population of those without faith. They adhere to no creed nor choose to affiliate with any religious community. These are the seculars, the unchurched, the people who profess no faith in any religion."
"In addition, 'the present survey has detected a wide and possibly growing swath of secularism among Americans. The magnitude and role of this large secular segment of the American population is frequently ignored by scholars and politicians alike...'"
Graduate Center Survey of Religion in America Complements U.S. Census
"Fifty-two percent of adults in America are Protestant, 24.5% are Catholic, and 14.1% adhere to no religion, according to the latest American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 ("ARIS 2001") just released by The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Those giving their religion as Jewish are 1.3% and those as Muslim or Islamic are 0.5%."
City University of New York
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