While the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world, a major new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center finds that the number of Americans who describe themselves as Christian is sharply declining.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion—who describe themselves as either athiest, agnostic, or "nothing in particular"—is growing.
According to the Center’s findings, the percentage of adults who identify as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4-percent in 2007 to 70.6-percent in 2014.
Over the same period, the percentage of adults who describe themselves as “religiously unaffiliated” has jumped more than six points, from 16.1-percent to 22.8-percent.
The number of U.S. adults who identify with non-Christian faiths—particularly Islam and Buddhism—has also inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points from 4.7 percent in 2007 to 5.9-percent in 2014.
Why is the U.S. Christian population on the decline? The Pew Research Center suggests “generational replacement” is responsible.
“One of the most important factors in the declining share of Christians and the growth of the ‘nones’ in generational replacement,” the Center writes.
“As the Millennial generation enters adulthood, its members display much lower levels of religious affiliation, including less connection with Christian churches, than older generations.”
The lower levels of affiliation among millennials are not the sole reason, however. “In addition, people in older generations are increasingly disavowing association with organized religion,” the study finds.
Overall, "The drop in the Christian share of the population has been driven mainly by declines among mainline Protestants and Catholics."
A large majority of Americans—roughly seven-in-ten—continue to identify with Christianity, but the sharp drop over such a short period of time signifies that the nation's religious landscape is currently undergoing some rapid changes.