Religion News: One in 5 Americans may be secular by 2030

September 25, 2009

One in 5 Americans may be secular by 2030

by Angela Abbamonte
Religion News Service

The number of American adults who do not identify with a particular religion is growing and may comprise more than 20 percent of the population in two decades, according to a new study.

Conducted by researchers at Trinity College, the study, entitled "American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population," showed that people who profess no religion, or "Nones," are similar to the general public in marital status, education, racial and ethnic makeup and income.

via pewforum.org

Click the link above to read the full story.

Evangelical heads are shaking - either side to side or up and down.

Again, controlled studies are verifying what we intuitively and observationally know.

One in five ... by 2030. That would suggest that four in five will claim affiliation and that more do so now.

Identification with "a particular religion" may add some vague credibility to that religion's claims, but it transforms neither the individual nor society.

Christianity seems to want it both ways - to be radical on the one hand and respectable on the other.

I am not suggesting that it is a good thing that people are becoming more secular, or at least admitting it.I am saying that it is reality and has been for some time. Even those who claim affiliation with the Jesus movement are not necessarily creating a more compassionate society where grace is being offered liberally on every street corner.

If we are actually a majority, there is a stewardship of majority that is not being realized. There ought to be some "blessedness" spilling over into the culture as Jesus described in Matthew 5.

Instead, we hear rhetoric about the preservation of our rights while very "secular" choices are being made concerning every issue in the public arena. Professed believers are as likely as anyone else to arrive at their philosophical and political views through a process of self-interest and then "baptize them" and call them "Christian."

In business, in life, and in public affairs, people who identify with Christianity are as secular and those who call themselves, "nones."

So, let us embrace the reality and accept it as an opportunity to identify with the radical claims of our Founder and Lord. Then we can start being what we are, salt of the earth and light of the world.

Getting uncomfortable is usually a wonderfull propellant to getting up and going ...

... at least that is how my mornings usually begin.

Good morning,