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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POLL December 18, 2008
Many Americans Say Other Faiths Can Lead to Eternal Life
A majority of all American Christians (52%) think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. Indeed, among Christians who believe many religions can lead to eternal life, 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so.
POLL 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.
POLL September 4, 2008
Survey Finds Alaskans Less Religious Than Other Americans
GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a self-described  "Bible-believing Christian," but statistics show that compared with the nation as a whole, Alaska is home to a higher-than-average number of people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion.
POLL December 18, 2007
Science in America: Religious Belief and Public Attitudes
The combination of widespread religious commitment and leadership in science and technology greatly enlarges the potential for conflict between faith and science in the United States.
LEGAL REPORT December 3, 2007
Religion and Secularism: The American Experience
Watch more event video on the multimedia page. More from the December 2007 Faith Angle Conference Religious Literacy: What Every American Should Know The Religion Factor in the 2008 Election More: Research, news, blogs Some of the nation's leadin...
POLL November 7, 2007
Religious Groups' Presidential Candidate Preferences
As the races for the 2008 presidential nominations heat up, two recent surveys make it possible to examine how the candidates in both political parties are faring among a variety of religious groups.
POLL September 26, 2007
Public Expresses Mixed Views of Islam, Mormonism
The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion's practices, and large majorities say that their own religion is very different from Islam and the Mormon religion.
POLL September 6, 2007
Clinton and Giuliani Seen as Not Highly Religious; Romney's Religion Raises Concerns
So far religion is not proving to be a clear-cut positive in the 2008 presidential campaign.
ANALYSIS August 21, 2007
Religion and the Presidential Vote: A Tale of Two Gaps
For the presidential candidates and the pundits who write about them, one concern in the 2008 campaign is the "religion gap" - shorthand for the religious differences between Republican and Democratic voters.
ANALYSIS May 4, 2007
Can Secular Democracy Survive in Turkey?
By nominating an observant Muslim for the Turkish presidency, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inadvertently highlighted deep-rooted tensions about the role of religion in the nation's political life.
LEGAL REPORT December 5, 2005
Believing Without Belonging: Just How Secular Is Europe?
Some of the nation's leading journalists gathered in Key West, Florida, in December 2005 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Conference speaker Grace Davie, who has a chair in the Sociology of...
LEGAL REPORT April 21, 2005
Secular Europe and Religious America: Implications for Transatlantic Relations
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Council on Foreign Relations co-hosted a luncheon roundtable entitled "Secular Europe and Religious America: Implications for Transatlantic Relations" on April 21, 2005 at the Pew Resea...
POLL February 3, 2005
Religion and the 2004 Election: A Post-Election Analysis
The close 2004 presidential election produced increased polarization between and within religious communities, according to a poll conducted by The University of Akron's Bliss Institute of Applied Politics.
POLL November 2, 2004
Religion and the Environment: Polls Show Strong Backing for Environmental Protection Across Religious Groups
October 2004 Download this Fact Sheet (76K .pdf) In contrast to abortion, gay marriage and other hot-button cultural issues, which divide most religious groups in the United States, there is a fairly strong consensus across faith traditions on env...
LEGAL REPORT March 19, 2004
One Nation Under God? Pledge of Allegiance Case
Download full backgrounder The Forum's Pledge of Allegiance Issue Backgrounder, written by legal scholars and published in March 2004, details the history of the Pledge and offers analysis of the legal questions raised in Elk Grove Unified School ...
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