People who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing special” now account for 26%, up from 17% in 2009

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The proportion of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising significantly, in tandem with a sharp drop in the percentage that identifies as Christian, according to new data from the Pew research center.

Based on telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, Pew said Thursday that 65% of adult Americans currently call themselves Christians, compared with 77% in 2009. Meanwhile, the portion that describes their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” is now 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Both Protestant and Roman Catholic ranks are losing a share of the population, according to Pew. He said 43% of American adults identify as Protestant, up from 51% in 2009, while 20% are Catholic, up from 23% in 2009.

Pew says all categories of religiously unaffiliated populations – often referred to as” nones ” – have grown in size. Self-described atheists now make up 4% of U.S. adults, up from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5%, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as “nothing special,” up from 12% in 2009.

The report comes at a difficult time for many of the major denominations in the United States. The two largest – the Catholic Church and the southern Baptist Convention-are plagued by scandals involving sexual abuse by clergy. The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination, faces a possible split over disagreements over LGBT inclusion.).

The Pew report noted a steady decline in attendance at religious services.

Over the past decade, the proportion of Americans who say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month has declined by 7 percentage points, while the proportion who say they attend religious services less often – if at all-has risen by the same degree.

Pew’s data showed a large age gap in terms of religious affiliation – three-quarters of baby boomers described themselves as Christian, compared to 49% of Millennials.

The trends documented by Pew have been reflected in other recent developments.

In may, the southern Baptist Convention reported its twelfth year of declining membership. The SBC said it had 14.8 million members in 2018, down about 192,000 from the previous year.

Empty tombs, a Christian organization based in Champaign, Illinois that researches religious sites, says the decline is longstanding. According to his study, Americans gave the Church about 3% of their disposable income in 1968 and less than 2.2% in 2016.

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