The number of Americans who do not affiliate themselves with religion is growing.
The Pew Research Center on Tuesday released the results of a new survey regarding religion in America. According to the findings, "nones," which refers to Americans who do not identify as having any religious affiliations, now make up around 29 percent of U.S. adults–an uptick from 23 percent in 2016 and 19 percent in 2011–indicating that some Americans are beginning to lose interest in their faiths. Some experts are estimating that unaffiliated people could be the largest religious group in the country.
Pew's survey also reveals a new key development: the diversity in age, location, and race among those unaffiliated with religion is growing across the country. The Pew study was taken by 3,937 people from May to August of 2021, with a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.1 percentage points.
Meanwhile, an Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey shows that 30 percent of nonreligious participants still hold a slight connection to a higher power, with 19 percent saying that religion is still somewhat important to them despite their own personal beliefs. While this remaining connection to religion might seem contradictory, some experts say that is not the case.
"There are people who do actually practice, either in a particular faith tradition that we would recognize, or in multiple faith traditions," said Santa Clara University researcher Elizabeth Drescher. "They're not interested in either membership in those communities formally or in identifying as someone from that religion."
The AP-NORC poll was taken by 1,083 people from October 21 to 25 with a sampling error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.
About 12 percent describe themselves as religious and spiritual and 28 percent as spiritual but not religious. More than half describe themselves as neither.
Nearly 60 percent of the nones say religion was at least somewhat important to their families when they were growing up, according to the AP-NORC poll. It found that 30 percent of nones meditate and 26 percent pray privately at least a few times a month, while smaller numbers consult periodically with a religious or spiritual leader.
Over recent years, the prevalence of the nones in the U.S. has been roughly comparable to Western Europe–but overall, Americans remain more religious, with higher rates of daily prayer and belief in God as described in the Bible. According to a 2018 Pew survey, about two-thirds of U.S. Christians prayed daily, compared to 6 percent in Britain and 9 percent in Germany
The growth of the nones in the U.S. has come largely at the expense of the Protestant population in the U.S., according to the new Pew survey. It said 40 percent of U.S. adults are Protestants now, down from 50 percent a decade ago.
For some nones, such as 70-year-old Zayne Marston of Shelburne, Massachusetts, their spiritual journey keeps evolving over decades.
Growing up near Boston, Marston attended a Congregational church with his family – he remembers Bible study, church-sponsored dances, the itchiness of his flannel trousers while attending Sunday services.
Through high school and college, he "drifted away" from Christian beliefs and in his 30s began a serious, long-lasting journey into spirituality while in rehab to curb his alcoholism.
"Spirituality is a soul-based journey into the heart, surrendering one's ego will to a higher will," he said. "We're looking for our own answers, beyond the programming we received growing up."
His path has been rough at times – the death of his wife from a fast-moving cancer, financial troubles leading to the loss of his house – but he says his spiritual practice has replaced his anxieties with a "gentle joy" and a desire to help others.
He previously worked as a landscape designer and real estate appraiser, and now runs a school teaching qigong, a practice that evolved from China combining slow, relaxed movement with breathing exercises and meditation.
"As a kid, I used to think of God up on a throne, with a white beard, passing judgment, but that has totally changed," Marston said. "My higher power is the universe... It's always there for me, if I can get out of my ego's way."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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