your faithless masses

from the center for inquiry:

'the most detailed estimates to date of americans' religious affiliations reports that a significant portion of u.s. citizens claim "none of the above," placing the unaffiliated second only to roman catholics in number. monday's release of the 35,000-respondent u.s. religious landscape survey from the pew forum on religion and public life shows that 16.1 percent of americans have no particular religion at all, while 23.9 percent identify themselves as catholic. the next largest "belief group" is evangelical baptist at 10.8 percent. all other denominational groupings show in the single digits or less.

the study also shows the number of americans who identify as atheist or agnostic has risen from 3.2 percent to 4 percent, while a "remarkably high" 44 percent have rejected the religion placed on them in childhood.

"people are finding out that what they've been handed in youth doesn't work, or isn't important enough to defend when confronted with marriage or some other life situation that forces them to examine it," said paul kurtz, founder of the council for secular humanism. "but when the shuffling is done, this study shows that three people are dropping religion altogether for each one gaining a faith."'

the rest here
via RD