People Say They’re Leaving Religion Due to Anti-LGBTQ Teachings and Sex Abuse Scandals

For NPR, Jason DeRose looks at“religious churning” in the United States. According to new PRRI data, while the amount of Americans who describe themselves as “nothing in particular” has remained stable since 2013, those who identify as atheists have doubled (from 2% to 4%) and those who say they’re agnostic have more than doubled (from 2% to 5%). When examining movement between religious groups, the Catholic Church is losing more members than it’s gaining. Black Protestants and Jewish Americans tend to stay put. Additionally, DeRose highlights that approximately one-third of unaffiliated Americans cite mental health concerns as the reason for disaffiliation from their childhood religion, with LGBTQ respondents showing the strongest inclination toward this response.

Unaffiliated Americans: Understanding the Country’s Only Growing Religious Group

Yonat Shimron at Religion News Service explores new findings about unaffiliated Americans, as profiled in PRRI’s Religious Change survey. Within the 26% of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated, only 9% say they are “looking for a religion that’s right for me.” An even smaller percentage of Americans (3%) who grew up without a religious identity go on to join a religion. Demographically, 65% of unaffiliated Americans are white and they are twice as likely as all Americans to identify as LGBTQ (19% vs. 9%). Even those who remain religious — the vast majority of Americans — say religion is less important in their lives. “The level of religiosity among Americans, even among people who identify with a religious tradition, has really dropped precipitously in the past decade,” PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman, Ph.D., told RNS.

Americans Who’ve Given Up Religion Often Point to Anti-LGBTQ Teachings

For The Washington Post, Philip Bump considers political rhetoric lamenting Christianity’s declining influence on American society in light of new PRRI data on religious switching and disaffiliation. While a growing number of Americans, especially former white Christians, have disaffiliated from religion in the past decade, PRRI’s new survey reveals that an increasingly significant reason for leaving, especially among adults under 30, is religious condemnations of LGBTQ relationships. Bump concludes, therefore, that the right’s conservative policies, including opposition to LGBTQ rights, will similarly push people away from their movement to strengthen Christian influence on government.

Prophecy and Prosperity Are Keys to Republican Christian Nationalism According to New Poll

Daniel Schultz for Religion Dispatches writes that PRRI’s new survey has implications for understanding both white Christian nationalism and support for former President Donald Trump. Schultz notes that disaffiliation and decreases in religious attendance can be seen across the board, but takes a closer look at which Americans hold prophetic and prosperity theological beliefs. While Black Americans are more likely to hold a series of beliefs rooted in prophecy and the prosperity gospel,PRRI finds that within the Republican party, Republicans who approve of Trump, as well as those who qualify as Christian nationalism adherents and sympathizers, are more likely to hold strong prophetic and prosperity beliefs than those who do not.