American religious right will be quaking in their boots

Pie chart of religions of African Americans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The religious right will be quaking in their boots, or perhaps saying that atheists are lying, when they read a new report (PDF) from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life. A third of Millennials, particularly the under 30 group, are declaring themselves religiously unaffiliated. That is an unprecedented number, and it is on the rise. Right now, according to Pew, 46,000,000 Americans are non-religious. Now, more than ever, America is on the road to eradicating religion. Perhaps the rabidly religious know this, too, which could be why there has been so much gnashing of teeth regarding “sins” such as abortion and marriage equality lately.

writes  Shannon Barber in

Pew Research Report: A Third Of Millienials Have No Religion

+++

Related articles

• Public and scientists express strikingly different views about science-related issues (esciencenews.com)
  Despite similar views about the overall place of science in America, the general public and scientists often see science-related issues through a different lens, according to a new pair of surveys by the Pew Research Center in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The report finds significant differences in views on 13 science-related issues asked about in the surveys. For instance, there is a: 51-percentage point gap between scientists and the public about the safety of eating genetically modified foods -- 88% of AAAS scientists think eating GM food is safe, while 37% of the public believes that.
• Millennials think differently of their futures in the US vs. Europe (voxxi.com)
  Millennials from Europe have a far dimmer view of their fates and futures than do American millennials. Up to half of young adults are unemployed in some European countries, so it is no surprise that youth in Europe are downright terrified of their uncertain and seemingly bleak futures.
• Adding atheists as a protected class will deter unfounded distrust (badgerherald.com)
  by adding atheism as a protected class, hopefully people will be more aware of the various forms of discrimination and distrust that non-religious people face. This awareness may eventually lead to more societal acceptance and trust of non-religious people.
  +
  As of 2012, seven states still had provisions in their state constitutions which overtly discriminated against atheists and agnostics, requiring state office holders to believe in the existence of “God” or “a Supreme Being.” These state constitutional provisions are still on the books, even though they are patently unconstitutional, as the U.S. Supreme Court recognized long ago in Torcaso v. Watkins. Discrimination against atheists and agnostics not only comes from the government, it also comes from private individuals. A 2011 survey found that respondents significantly preferred religious candidates for “high-trust” jobs while showing a marginal preference toward atheists for “low-trust” jobs.
  
• Why the Black Church Is Keeping Millennials While Other Traditions Are Losing Them (blackchristiannews.com)
  At large, millennials are less religious than were earlier generations of Americans. In 2012, Pew Research Center released data showing that 32 percent of Americans ages 18 to 29 are religiously unaffiliated. This was an 11 percent increase over any other age group that year, and a 7 percent jump from the 25 percent of young people who responded this way in 2007.
  +
  Black Protestants have retained the greatest number of millennials compared with Catholics, white mainliners, and white evangelicals, according to 2012 data from the Public Religion Research Institute and Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. These traditions have seen their market share of millennials drop by 8.4, 7.3, and 2.2 percentage points, respectively. In contrast, black Protestant millennials have decreased by 1.5 percentage points.
• Obama's 'problem is he was born a Muslim,' Rev. FranklinGraham says (gunnyg2.wordpress.com)
  Graham told CNN: “He was born a Muslim. His father was a Muslim; the seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother.”He was born a Muslim; his father gave him an Islamic name,” the son of noted evangelist Billy Graham, said.“It’s obvious that the president has renounced Islam … the president says he is a Christian, and we just have to accept it as that,” the Samaritan’s Purse CEO added.
• Schooled, Not Skilled: U.S. Millennials Trail Peers (nbcmiami.com)
• The Daily Show is one of America's most trusted news sources (knowmore.washingtonpost.com)
• Despite Snowden leaks, young Americans still look favorably on the NSA (rare.us)
• Pew Research Report: A Third Of Millienials Have No Religion (addictinginfo.org)