The religious landscape in America is changing dramatically. I’ve written on this before, but the results remain surprising: over the past decade, the number of Americans who are religiously unaffiliated has doubled- rising from 8% in 2003 to 21% today. Something is happening in the tides of public opinion on religion… but what is happening remains open for debate. Why are these numbers rising so quickly?
A recent survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, a non-profit doing research on religion in American public life, has been tracking how opinions on same-sex marriage have impacted people’s religious affiliation. From this survey it’d seem that same-sex marriage was a deciding factor for many people’s choice to leave their childhood religion. But, as always, the relationship isn’t so cut and dry.
