pewforum.org Topics Religious Affiliation

Unaffiliated

Explore Pew Forum publications—including public opinion polls, demographic reports, research studies, event transcripts and interviews—about people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion. This group includes atheists, agnostics and people who describe their religion as “nothing in particular.” This latter group can be further divided into “secular unaffiliated” and “religious unaffiliated.”

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“Nones” on the Rise
The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

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GRAPHIC April 28, 2011
National Day of Prayer
A federal appeals court recently overturned a lower court ruling that had declared the National Day of Prayer to be unconstitutional. The day of prayer, established by Congress in 1952, occurs annually on the first Thursday in May, which this year falls on May 5.
ANALYSIS June 4, 2009
Brides, Grooms Often Have Different Faiths
Data from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2007, shows that many marriages are between people of different religious faiths.
ANALYSIS April 27, 2009
Interactive: Reasons for Joining, Reasons for Leaving
About half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once in their lives. This interactive explores the reasons different groups cite for leaving or joining their religion.
ANALYSIS April 16, 2009
Religious Groups' Views on Global Warming
An analysis by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life of a 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press examines views on global warming among major religious traditions in the U.S. 
ANALYSIS April 2, 2009
Not All Nonbelievers Call Themselves Atheists
According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, 5% of American adults say they do not believe in God or a universal spirit, but only about a quarter (24%) of these nonbelievers actually call themselves atheists.
ANALYSIS March 4, 2009
Religious Groups Agree: Fixing the Nation's Economy Is Job One
While there is general agreement among religious groups that strengthening the economy should be a top policy priority for the government, people of different faiths are divided in their support for addressing other policy issues.
ANALYSIS February 10, 2009
Religiously Mixed Couples: Cupid's Arrow Often Hits People of Different Faiths
More than one-in-four (27%) American adults who are married or living with a partner are in religiously mixed relationships. If people from different Protestant denominational families are included, nearly four-in-ten (37%) couples are religiously mixed.
ANALYSIS February 4, 2009
Religious Differences on the Question of Evolution
The Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that views on evolution differ widely across religious groups.
ANALYSIS January 30, 2009
Income Distribution Within U.S. Religious Groups
Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life find that income varies greatly within and across American religious groups.
ANALYSIS January 30, 2009
Faith-Based Aid Favored - With Reservations
While Americans generally support allowing religious groups to apply for government funding to provide social services, they draw the line at letting such organizations hire only people who share their religious beliefs.
GRAPHIC January 15, 2009
Abortion Views by Religious Affiliation
Abortion remains a divisive issue in the U.S., with a slim majority (53%) in favor of keeping it legal in all or most cases and four-in-ten in favor of making it illegal in all or most cases. However, the Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that most religious traditions in the U.S. come down firmly on one side or the other.
ANALYSIS November 3, 2008
Trends in Candidate Preferences Among Religious Groups
The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press includes analysis of the candidate preferences of major religious groups.