Over the past few decades, the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated—often referred to as “nones”—has grown rapidly. In the 1970s, only about 5% of Americans fell into this category. Today, that number exceeds 25%. Scholars have debated whether this change simply reflects a general decline in belief, or whether it signals something more complex. The research team wanted to explore the deeper forces at play: Why are people leaving institutional religion? What are they replacing it with? And how are their personal values shaping that process?

  • samus12345@sh.itjust.works
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    37 minutes ago

    My guess is that the extreme hatred flowing out of outspoken “Christians” in the US is a huge turn-off, as it should be.

  • Zenith@lemm.ee
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    12 minutes ago

    Everyone, myself included always come back to the same reason - there is no proof.

    If I was given actual proof of a god or pantheon or any other ridiculous nonsense I’d absolutely change my mind but actual proof magic exists can’t exist because magic isn’t real

    I fully accept that I don’t and can’t truly understand the universe but where the fuck does that somehow morph into “god did it” it’s ok not to know everything I don’t need made up bullshit to fill the gaps so I can feel better about not having every answer. Live with not knowing, that’s what being human is meant to be, acceptance

  • lemonaz@lemmy.world
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    50 minutes ago

    They have tech now. And conspiracy theories. Lots of stuff to cult about. They can build their own religion if they want.

  • fireweed@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    For their study, Schnabel and his colleagues used data from the National Study of Youth and Religion. This included four waves of longitudinal survey data and 183 in-depth interviews conducted from 2003 to 2013. The sample included over 1,300 individuals, each tracked from adolescence into young adulthood. […] The number of respondents attending religious services dropped dramatically between 2003 and 2013.

    The study used data that’s 12 years old! Millennials are not young adults anymore. At this point it’s well known that Americans, especially the younger cohorts, are moving away from religion, so why even bother reanalyzing ancient data?

    • Zenith@lemm.ee
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      23 minutes ago

      Gen Z is more religious and conservative, than millennials, a lot more

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      It is very useful to reanalyze old data. Recently, a study came out that concluded that we have misunderstood the role of nutrition and calories in fitness, and it examined studies over a period of decades to come to the conclusions. You don’t always need new data to make new conclusions.

  • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 hours ago

    Here’s my theory why:

    • People nowadays have higher average education and can much more easilly spot the logical inconsistences in Religion.
    • People are so overexposed and overwhelmed by swindles in the modern era that they are more naturally spotting the swindle nature of ancient swindles such as Religion.
  • Zomg@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Because I don’t need God to be a good person, or know what good morals are.

    • P1k1e@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      Not to mention you’ll do a better job at it if you think for yourself on the subject rather than delegating it to a spiritual leader with potentially dubious agendas

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      This is caused by social media. People getting sucked into the right-wing VLOG-o-sphere.

  • twice_hatch@midwest.social
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    7 hours ago

    I’m not technically leaving religion, I was raised atheist and just never got the hang of believing in supernatural things.

    I believe some CRAZY stuff but it’s not supernatural

  • Ledericas@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    should be happening with gen z and alpha too, but gen z has more right wingers than previous generations, due to significant propaganda.

    • Zenith@lemm.ee
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      22 minutes ago

      I always wonder what made millennials so left compared to every generation before and after.

  • SunshineJogger@feddit.org
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    16 hours ago

    Good for them.

    These ancient lies designed for crowd control have been horrible these past thousand years.

    Not that modern political groups or sects etc are much better…

  • crystalmerchant@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    Lmao because it’s horse shit that’s why

    Source: me, a 37-yo exmormon who was all-in, true believer, until his mid 20s.

  • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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    24 hours ago

    Well, my whole life, I’ve lived in a society where organized Christianity has overwhelmingly been a force for evil, rather than a force for good. Fuck, I straight-up believe that most Evangelical Christians are devil worshipers. If your religion leads you to hate, you aren’t worshiping God, you’re worshiping the Devil.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Christianity is, by definition, a cult of human sacrifice.

      Kinda puts the entire faith into perspective.

        • athairmor@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          They ritualistically eat the body and blood of their god/savior.

          Let that sink in.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Well, they were in luck… he’s only mostly dead. If he was all the way dead, it wouldn’t have worked. but Mostly dead? Miracle Max can work with that.

        • Clasm@ttrpg.network
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          21 hours ago

          Suicidal Death Cult

          They are actively doing everything in their power to bring about the end of the world.

        • Billiam@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          When you’re actively trying to bring about the end of the world, there’s no more apt description.

        • Sixty@sh.itjust.works
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          19 hours ago

          Dooms day death cult.

          Lead by Jesus, the dooms day death cult leader.

          I hear he’s a “good guy.”

          I don’t think dooms day death cult leaders, make believe or not and I just mean a historical grifter non magical, are good people.

        • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          23 hours ago

          Death Cult Armageddon, great Dimmu album. My parents got it for me along with Enthrone Darkness Triumphant for Christmas one year but they wouldn’t buy me Diablo II because Diablo “didn’t fit the theme of the holiday.”

          • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            In all fairness, Diablo has an entirely different lore than Christianity, I can see where they were coming from. We want to burn Yahweh, not Anu.

      • jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk
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        23 hours ago

        Not really; one guy died, by his own choice, but came back to life two days later. A real “cult of human sacrifice” would require it as an ongoing practice and for the victims to stay dead.

        • sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works
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          22 hours ago

          Jesus alone doesn’t make it a death cult. It’s a death cult because the whole religion is predicated on death. Dying is the entire point. Your entire life is a means to gain the rewards of dying and only then will you truly be happy.

          • jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk
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            10 hours ago

            So much wrongitude here I don’t know if this is genuinely what you think or if you’re just trolling.

            Jesus came to earth so that we could know God, here and now. To nick someone else’s quote: It’s not pie in the sky when you die, it’s steak on your plate while you wait. John 10:10: “I have some so that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

            I suggest you read the Bible some time. Start with the Gospels, either Luke or John. Not as a means to convert you, but so that you can understand what Christianity is really about, instead of spouting uninformed nonsense about it. You’re currently the equivalent of those Christians who say the equivalent of “evolution is just a theory”.

            • sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works
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              9 hours ago

              Your reward is in heaven right? So the endgame is death. You might get to eat steak while you are alive but you dont get the whole meal until you die. That’s a death cult.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Just because there was only one sacrificial offering doesn’t mean jesus wasn’t a sacrificial offering.

          The whole thing about jesus being both fully god and fully man is that no “normal” human would ever be sinless- and therefore would be an inadequate sacrifice. Therefore god became man- that is, jesus- whose sole purpose was to be a “perfect” sacrifice.

          • not_fond_of_reddit@lemm.ee
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            23 hours ago

            But isn’t the whole trinity thing God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit the same entity? So God sacrificed himself for himself… wouldn’t really call a two day nap for some eternal being a sacrifice either.

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              23 hours ago

              You’re expecting it all to make sense. It’s like a the lies a 2 year old tells to explain and justify having gotten into the chocolate cake, after having tried to lay it off like they hadn’t (missing the whole having it all over their face thing,).

              The longer they’re allowed to go, and the more you poke holes the weirder it gets.

            • Sc00ter@lemmy.zip
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              22 hours ago

              This was always my biggest struggle growing up in a catholic house. “He sacrificed himself to save everyone who came before and will come after.”

              Like, is that really that big of a deal? Shit if i was presented with the option of a much smaller number than infinity, idk say 1000, id sacrifice myself. AND i don’t know that I’m god or that my father is god and that ill be taken care of for all eternity.

              In all reality, that numbers way less than 1000 for strangers, and if you include anyone i know/care about, that number could be as low as 1.

    • CXORA@aussie.zone
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      21 hours ago

      No. The christoan God is evil. They’re doing exactly as their religion demands.

    • MouldyCat@feddit.uk
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      23 hours ago

      If your religion leads you to hate, you aren’t worshiping God, you’re worshiping the Devil.

      And this is how wars between religions start…

      Maybe try to move away from that God/Devil thing. It’s a foolish, naive, human-centered worldview.

      • bpalmerau@aussie.zone
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        23 hours ago

        Ok, we can restate it. If your religion leads you to hate, you aren’t on the side of good, you’re on the side of bad?

        • MouldyCat@feddit.uk
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          22 hours ago

          alright, but is the world really as black and white as that? Is there really a clear Good Side, and a clear Bad Side?

          • Tinks@lemmy.world
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            9 hours ago

            If your religion leads you to hate, the religion and its followers are bad. The end.

  • DantesFreezer@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    I feel like the unloved sect is really the unitarian universalists. They’re basically a doctrine free “church” of social justice. Like, I love going sometimes and just getting more advice on how to be an excellent human to others. And then we have snacks.