Ethics Newsline®

“Religion is the single most important factor that drives American belief attitudes and behaviors. It is a powerful indicator of where America will end up on politics, culture, family life. If you want to understand America, you have to understand religion in America.”

– Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University, speaking to the New York Times about a new poll from the Pew Research Center that tracks the U.S. population’s adoption, abandonment, and switching of religious affiliation. The poll found that “more than a quarter of adult Americans have left the faith of their childhood to join another religion or no religion,” with “more than 16 percent of American adults say[ing] they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth largest ‘religious group,’” notes the Times.

Source: New York Times, Feb. 25.

For more information, see: Full press release from Pew, Feb. 25 — TIME magazine, Feb. 25.