The % of Americans who claim no religion has nearly doubled in 18 years.

[Avalach21]

Here is a Gallup Poll that my professor handed out in my Science & Religion philosophy class this semester, ironically from the same University that conducted the study in Akuma's post.

 

June 23, 2006 Who Believes in God and Who Doesn't? Belief in God correlated with socioeconomic status by Frank Newport

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- There are many ways to measure Americans' belief in God, and in part the conclusions one reaches on this topic depend on how that belief is defined in the question wording. If Americans are simply asked if they believe in God or a universal spirit, more than 90% will say yes. If Americans are given more finely-tuned response categories, it becomes obvious that a somewhat smaller percentage of Americans, although still the substantial majority, are absolutely convinced that God exists.

In several recent Gallup Polls, adult Americans have been asked about God using this more complex format involving five alternative beliefs:

Which comes closest to describing you -- [ROTATED: you are convinced that God exists, you think God probably exists, but you have a little doubt, you think God probably exists, but you have a lot of doubt, you think God probably does not exist, but you are not sure, (or) you are convinced that God does not exist]?

	Convinced God exists	Probably exists, have a little doubt	Probably exists, have a lot of doubt	Probably does not exist, but not sure	Convinced God does not exist	No opinion
	%	%	%	%	%	%
2006 May 8-11	73	14	5	4	3	2
2005 Nov 17-20	78	12	4	4	1	1
2005 Oct 24-26	80	8	3	4	3	2

The latest responses to this question, obtained in a May Gallup Poll, lead to several conclusions:

• Seventy-three percent of Americans are classic true believers, convinced that God exists beyond a doubt.
• Eighty-seven percent of Americans are basic believers in the existence of God, saying either that they are convinced that God exists or that God probably exists and they have only a little doubt that this is the case.
• A slightly larger group of 92% of Americans can be classified in a group that tilts toward the existence of God, stating that at the least they think God probably exists, even though some have a lot of doubt about it.
• Only 3% of Americans can be considered to be hard-core atheists, convinced that God does not exist.
• Another 4% are agnostics of a sort, leaning toward a belief that God does not exist, but not sure that this is the case beyond a doubt.

Of interest is the distribution of these beliefs across subgroups in the U.S. population. Just who is it that is most likely to believe in God, and who is least likely to believe in God?

For the purposes of this analysis, we will look at the group of basic believers -- those who are certain, with no doubts, there is a God, and those who have a few doubts but believe there is probably a God. To increase the reliability of the analysis, the figures discussed below are based on an aggregate of more than 2,800 interviews conducted in the October 2005, November 2005, and May 2006 polls.

 

 

If anyone is interested, the poll further specifies down to Age, Socioeconomic Status, Gender, Region, and Politics, and I can post those as well.