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Hi Badgers, that is very helpful. I hadn't stopped to realize that city-data might not compile or massage the info. I will definitely make use of the links you've provided.
The data on religion is taken directly from a survey that was done by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. You may want to contact them through their contact form at U.S. Religion Census | Religious Statistics & Demographics. City Data did not conduct the survey, so they are not likely to know about why the results of the survey has changed so much between 2000 and 2010.
The methdology of the survey, at least for 2010, is that they are counting people who are formally church members, as well as the minor children of those church members (if the children aren't already counted as members). This seems like a reasonable way to do it, at least on some levels. Of course, you may be a church member but rarely show up on Sundays; this may be particularly true for Catholics because if you are a confirmed Catholic and you move to a new area and sign your name on a card you are considered a church member-- but you may only attend services a few times a year.
Church membership for Protestants seems to be a more intentional act. On one hand people may still go through the process of becoming members, but after a while they don't stay as involved in the church.
On the other hand, people may attend services and volunteer quite often but not go through what may be a more intensive process to become a church member. These people, who attend services, but don't become formal church members, would technically be counted as "none" even though they may identify as Christian. I am just using Christianity as an example because that's what I'm most interested in-- it would be the same for other religions. In fact, if you go to the site where you can generate reports from the data (The Association of Religion Data Archives | Maps & Reports | Select Report) they list them as "unclaimed" instead of "none" because it's not that you have that many people who affirmatively claim atheism, it's just a measure of how many people don't show up on the membership rolls.
The hope, I suppose, is that the people who attend but aren't members, and the people who are members, but don't attend, will roughly cancel each other out so that the data will still be useful.
Getting back to your other question, OP, I think there actually has been a huge change just between 2000 and 2010 in the social acceptability of identifying as an atheist, and not attending or otherwise being involved in a church. But there has been perhaps less change in how people actually think. There probably were a lot more people who attended church in the 80's, 90's, etc. who "went through the motions" because they felt they had to in order to be accepted socially. Now, those people would feel more free to stop attending church and identify more openly as atheist or "spiritual but not religious." So it's possible that there are fewer people who attend church regularly but the ones who still do, are on average more engaged with community service and studying the Bible than the average church attendee in decades past.
Many of us grew disgusted with where evangelical christianity was headed. In fact, at a small bible meeting last Monday, one person stated that the very word evangelical set his teeth on edge. And he is from Arkansas and grew up in an evangelical church about the time those churches were leaving Christ for dogma.
I left for basically the same reasons. While I still consider myself a Christ follower, the evangelical churches (some in most denominations) in America has become so ensconced in the importance of dogma that Jesus is left standing outside.
Getting back to your other question, OP, I think there actually has been a huge change just between 2000 and 2010 in the social acceptability of identifying as an atheist, and not attending or otherwise being involved in a church. But there has been perhaps less change in how people actually think. There probably were a lot more people who attended church in the 80's, 90's, etc. who "went through the motions" because they felt they had to in order to be accepted socially.
Indeed. How many people thought that they had to be seen to conform? So, on Sunday mornings they would park themselves on church pews, even though they had no desire to be there.
BTW, I would add "Atheist" to Mordant's list.
Count me as one of the indifferent. I don't care if there is a God or not.
Count me as one of the indifferent. I don't care if there is a God or not.
This. Whether a god or gods exist or not, the problems of living remain the same. Whatever supernatural wisdom or comfort they claim, I don't notice religious folks seeming to have life "nailed" any better than anyone else does.
Hello everyone, I'm new and hope I'm in the right forum for my question.
I've been using city-data for over 8 years to check out demographics on various occasions for myself, family, and friends. It is an invaluable tool so thank you city-data!
I always check the religious makeup of a place. I see it as important. Very recently there has been a big change: a tremendous increase in the % categorized as "none" (no religion).
Does anyone know what this is all about? Have they lumped several "other" religions into "none"? Surely that many people cannot have suddenly become "none". ??
Please help if you can solve this mystery. Thank you all.
A lot of people just don't see their religious affiliation as something they want to share, particularly if they aren't intending to post on the Religion and Spirituality forums. That doesn't necessarily mean that they actually have no religion.
Hello everyone, I'm new and hope I'm in the right forum for my question.
I've been using city-data for over 8 years to check out demographics on various occasions for myself, family, and friends. It is an invaluable tool so thank you city-data!
I always check the religious makeup of a place. I see it as important. Very recently there has been a big change: a tremendous increase in the % categorized as "none" (no religion).
Does anyone know what this is all about? Have they lumped several "other" religions into "none"? Surely that many people cannot have suddenly become "none". ??
Please help if you can solve this mystery. Thank you all.
The number of individuals who are willing to admit to having no affiliation with a religion has risen from about 5% in 1999 to about 23% in the U.S. today. I has been rising at about 1% per year since the beginning of this century. In Europe this group, known as "nones," has already surpassed 50%. So yes, the increase is real and it is gaining momentum.
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