People in the U.S. are leaving and switching faith traditions in large numbers. The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

It finds that around one-quarter (26%) of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated, a number that has risen over the last decade and is now the largest single religious group in the U.S. That’s similar to what other surveys and polls have also found, including Pew Research.

PRRI found that the number of those who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” has held steady since 2013, but those who identify as atheists have doubled (from 2% to 4%) and those who say they’re agnostic has more than doubled (from 2% to 5%).

As for why people leave their religions, PRRI found that about two-thirds (67%) of people who leave a faith tradition say they did so because they simply stopped believing in that religion’s teachings.

And nearly half (47%) of respondents who left cited negative teaching about the treatment of LGBTQ people.

Those numbers were especially high with one group in particular.

“Religion’s negative teaching about LGBTQ people are driving younger Americans to leave church,” Deckman says. “We found that about 60% of Americans who are under the age of 30 who have left religion say they left because of their religious traditions teaching, which is a much higher rate than for older Americans.”

  • pingveno@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I am about to see a friend who just left their church after going through a self-discovery process and realizing that they are LGBTQ. Some form that uses they/them pronouns, they haven’t elaborated. We haven’t seen each other since high school, something like twenty years ago. I suspect a large part of it was hostility towards their identity, but we’ll see if they bring it up.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The idea of “religious churning” is very common in America, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

    “Thirty-five percent were former Catholics, 35% were former mainline Protestants, only about 16% were former evangelicals,” says Melissa Deckman, PRRI’s chief executive officer.

    There is much lower religious churn among Black Protestants and among Jews who seem overall happy in their faith traditions and tend to stay there.

    And nearly half (47%) of respondents who left cited negative teaching about the treatment of LGBTQ people.

    “Religion’s negative teaching about LGBTQ people are driving younger Americans to leave church,” Deckman says.

    Black Americans tend to agree more with these theological beliefs than other racial or ethnic groups.

    The original article contains 521 words, the summary contains 118 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • Feathercrown@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      Judaism is much more accepting of questioning the religious authority, asking questions, etc. Some people even consider themselves both atheist and jewish. So that tracks.

  • Alteon@lemmy.world
    0·
    7 months ago

    The entire Christian religion is built on these doublespeak principles that allow you shape it to whatever you need it to be. God is loving and compassionate but also wrathful, violent, and prone to punishment. God has a just and perfect plan for you, but that requires suffering and pain. God is full of infinite love, but is willing to send you to Hell for eternity. Jesus is the King, but also a mere humble servant.

    Love thy neighbor didn’t come with exceptions.

    • tim-clark@kbin.social
      0·
      7 months ago

      Sounds like an abusive partner.

      If going to church makes you a Christian, does going in the garage make you a car? Jesus would throw all christians out as they have turned their back on him.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
        0·
        7 months ago

        There’s coercive patterns to any kind of authority. It’s the whole difference between a leader and a boss. Follow leaders, avoid bosses wherever you can, whether it’s in a social community like a religion or a personal relationship.

    • Kroxx@lemm.ee
      0·
      7 months ago

      Religion isn’t evil, people are. All holy books have rules and stories about not being a piece of shit. Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of gods wraith and incest/rape or other messed up stuff, but there are also verbatim passages about treating people well, giving, helping, not murdering or stealing. The issue is evil people use these books to justify horrendous acts while simultaneously ignoring everything the books try to teach about being a shit person. I think religion on a PERSONAL basis can help people better themselves, organized religion is the issue. Organized religion always ends up in the same places, greedy, corrupt, abusive, suppressive, and it’s because the leader are abusing their powers for their own benefit. The religion itself isn’t to blame, at least in my eyes.

      You know what would happen if no religions existed? People will just find other reasons to abuse and manipulate people, it’s the unfortunate symptom of people who refuse to listen to their conscience. Everyone knows right before they act what they are about to do is wrong, the ones who ignore this feeling make everyone suffer. As long as those people exist, all the negativity aspects of religion will re-manifest in other ways regardless of the existence of religion.

      I also personally think it’s an important mental exercise to ponder about life, death, afterlife, existence, and the possibility of the divine. You don’t have to believe it of course, just think about it maybe even debate with yourself about it. I also don’t think everyone would benefit from it, but I think a lot of people could. Just my two cents.

      • drmeanfeel@lemmy.world
        0·
        7 months ago

        There are a zillion non religious ways that the “good parts” of any religion are realized.

        The ways in which the evil parts of religion manifest are much more unique.

        You want to be “not a piece of shit”? You can take both of your cents and do it without any of the trappings of religion.

        • Kroxx@lemm.ee
          0·
          7 months ago

          Of course there are a zillion non religious ways, look at Buddhism!

          No they are the same, there are a zillion non religious ways to abuse people the same way religion does.

          I come to lemmy for engagement on topics I find interesting, if no one gave their two cents what would be the point of the site?

          I also never implied you have to use religion, I think it can work great for some people but It’s not for everyone. Like you said people can have a great moral compass without religion! I just try to not be evangelically for one side or another. I think the logic behind atheism should always be around and people should be exposed to that, I also think the faith behind religion should always be around and people exposed to it. By exposed I specifically mean publicly available and not suppressed by society or legislation. I do not mean forced to participate in.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        0·
        7 months ago

        For real, I don’t give two shits what sort of imaginary friend anyone wants to talk to, or how you want to live, as long as you respect other humans. I don’t even care when people start telling me that their imaginary friend has rules for me to follow because bad religious thing will happen if I don’t follow them… and that I’m double extra super fucked because apparently, believing in no imaginary friends is worse than believing in the wrong imaginary friend(s) most of the time, because honestly, it’s just funny to watch their brains do backflips.

        But the second you start trying to pass laws to enforce your imaginary friend’s “rules”, I’m gonna have to tell you to take a big step back and

        literally fuck your own face

        I don’t get why this is so hard for the religiouses to understand.