The number of Americans who identify
as Christian has fallen nearly eight percentage points in only seven
years, according to a new survey.
Pew Research Center found that 71% of Americans identified as Christian in 2014 - down from 78% in 2007.
In the same period, Americans identifying as having no religion grew from 16% to 23%.
Fifty-six million Americans do not observe any religion, the second largest community after Evangelicals.
The
United States still remains home to more Christians than any other
nation, with roughly seven-in-ten continuing to identify with some
branch of Christianity.
In 2007 and then again in 2014, Pew conducted the "Religious Landscape Study", interviewing 35,000 people each time.
Pew researchers say the losses they discovered were driven mainly by a
decrease among liberal Protestants and Catholics and occurred in all
regions of the US and among all ages and demographics.
About 5 million less Americans now identify as Christian compared to when the study was conducted in 2007.
In
the South, those not-affiliated with religion - or as the researchers
call them, "nones" - rose to 19% of the population, while in the
Northeast they climbed to 25%.
In the West "nones" are a larger group than any religion, making up 28% of the public.
Greg Smith, Pew's associate research director, said the findings
"point to substantive changes" among the religiously unaffiliated, not
just a shift in how people describe themselves.
Non-religious
Americans have become increasingly organised since 2007, forming
political groups designed to keep religion out of public life.
Kelly
Damerow with the Secular Coalition for America tells BBC News that the
Pew findings "lend credence to the growth we've witnessed within our
community and that we have the potential to hold a lot of political
clout".
Christians in the US
Americans who identify as Christian: 70.6%
Protestant faiths: 46.5%
Evangelical: 25.4%
Catholic: 20.8%
Mainline or liberal: 14.7%
Mormon: 1.6%
Jehovah's Witness: 0.8%
Identify as Other Christians: 0.4% Source: Pew Research Center
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