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- A new Pew Research Center report contained new insights into nonreligious Americans.
- The so-called "nones" have been rising for decades and now make up nearly 30% of the country.
- Pew found many nones still believe in God or another higher power and identify as spiritual.
The rise of the "nones" — Americans who report having no religious affiliation — has been happening for decades, sparking questions and concerns about what the decline in religiosity could mean for the country.
A detailed report from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday sheds some new light on who these people actually are — and undermines some perceptions about all of them being anti-religion or anti-God.
In 2023, Pew found 28% of Americans fell into the nones category, which includes people who, when asked about their religion, say they are atheists, agnostics, or "nothing in particular." That's up from 16% in 2007 and 5% in 1972.
The majority of nones, 63%, are "nothing in particular," while 20% identified as agnostic and 17% were atheist. Nones tend to be younger than the religiously affiliated, and they are more likely to identify as liberal. They include nearly equal numbers of men and women, and the racial breakdown is similar to that of religious Americans. However, atheists and agnostics are more likely to be white men.
Though they do not identify with a religion, most nones say they believe in God or another higher power — just not the God that is described in the Bible, according to Pew. Half say spirituality is important to them or that they identify as spiritual.
When asked about specific reasons they are nonreligious, 60% of nones emphasized their questioning of many religious teachings, while 47% cited not liking religious organizations. Around 44% also said they lacked the need or time for religion.
But not all nones express hostility toward religion. While 43% said religion causes more harm than good, 41% said it causes equal amounts of harm and good. While 80% agreed with the statement "religion causes division and intolerance," 58% said religion "helps society by giving people meaning and purpose in their lives."
"Some 'nones' have a very negative view of religion, but 'nones' on the whole express mixed views rather than outright hostility," the report said.
The report also found that, in general, nones were somewhat less civically and politically engaged than religious people. However, the difference fell away for atheists and agnostics specifically, who were equally and, in some cases, more likely to be civically engaged.
"It's often just the 'nothing in particular' group that stands out for having relatively low levels of civic behavior, such as voting and volunteering," the report said.
However, compared to the nearly 60% of religious people who don't regularly attend church, nones were about equally as likely to have volunteered in the past year.
Pew researchers noted that the number of nones fell 3 percentage points last year from 31% in 2022. However, they said it was too soon to tell if that meant the rise in the nones was finally plateauing after decades of growth.
Pew said most of the data used for the report came from a survey it conducted in July and August among 11,201 respondents who were part of its American Trends Panel, an online survey panel recruited nationally with random sampling. Pew conducted interviews with 3,317 respondents who were classified as religious nones.