Irreligion in the United States

Encompassing atheism, agnosticism, deism, skepticism, freethought, secular humanism or general secularism, various polls have put the population of "non religious" North Americans at around 20 million people. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/14/AR2007091402199.html In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength in Numbers] ] cite web
url=http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm
title=American Religious Identification Survey
accessdate=2008-03-29]

Several groups promoting no religious faith, or opposing religious faith altogether, have also witnessed large increases in membership numbers in recent years.

Demographics

A Barna group poll found that about 20 million people say they are atheist, have no religious faith or are agnostic, with 5 million of that number claiming to be atheists. The study also found that " [t] hey tend to be more educated, more affluent and more likely to be male and unmarried than those with active faith" and that " [o] nly 6 percent of people over 60 have no faith in God, and one in four adults ages 18 to 22 describe themselves as having no faith."

A 2007 Gallup poll which asked the question

"Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God: you believe in God, you don't believe in God but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don't believe in either?"

showed that 78% believed in god, 14% in "A universal spirit or higher power", 7% answering "neither", and 1% unsure.cite web
url=http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm
title=Polling Report - Religion
publisher=Various
accessdate=2008-03-29]

The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) found that while 29.5 million U.S. Adults (14.1%) described themselves as "without religion", only 902,000 (0.4%) positively claimed to be atheist, with another 991,000 (0.5%) professing agnosticism.

Irreligion in politics

Many voters in the United States are rather distrustful of those professing a lack of religious faith, with an "atheist" at the bottom of the list of presidential candidates that people would vote for. Over 90% of Americans are willing to vote for a Catholic, Jewish, female or black President, but the number willing to vote for an atheist is below 45%, lower than the result for homosexuals and Muslims. [ [http://richarddawkins.net/article,662,Atheists-come-in-last,USA-Today--Gallup-Poll Atheists come in last - USA today] ] [ [http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistbigotryprejudice/a/AtheistSurveys.htm About.com Atheist Surveys] ]

ee also

* Agnosticism
* Atheism
* Irreligion
* Religion in the United States
* Religious skepticism
* Secular humanism

References

External links