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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ANALYSIS December 18, 2012
The Global Religious Landscape
A country-by-country analysis of data from more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers finds that 84% of adults and children around the globe are religiously affiliated. The study also finds that the median age of two major groups – Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) – is younger than the world’s overall population (28), while Jews have the highest median age (36).
POLL October 9, 2012
“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. 
POLL July 19, 2012
Asian Americans: A Mosaic of Faiths
When it comes to religion, the Asian-American community is a study in contrasts, encompassing groups that run the gamut from highly religious to highly secular. A new survey report examines the Asian-American population from the angle of religious affiliation, highlighting the beliefs, practices and views of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, the religiously unaffiliated and other faiths. 
ANALYSIS March 8, 2012
Faith on the Move
This study focuses on the religious affiliation of international migrants, examining patterns of migration among seven major groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, adherents of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated.
ANALYSIS November 21, 2011
Lobbying for the Faithful
A new report gives a brief history of organized religious advocacy in Washington, D.C., and examines the major characteristics of religion-related advocacy. A related online directory includes profiles of 216 groups currently or recently active in the nation’s capital.
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.
EVENT TRANSCRIPT October 12, 2010
Can Civilization Survive Without God?
The Pew Forum invited brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens to address the question of whether civilization needs God.
EVENT TRANSCRIPT December 17, 2009
Global Restrictions on Religion
More than half a century ago, the United Nations affirmed the principle of religious freedom in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, defining it as "the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
POLL September 9, 2009
Muslims Widely Seen As Facing Discrimination
Eight years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination inside the U.S. than other major religious groups. Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons.
POLL 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.
POLL April 27, 2009
Faith in Flux
Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives.
POLL 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.
POLL 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. 
POLL 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.
POLL 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.
POLL 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.
POLL 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.
POLL 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.
POLL 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.
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