On Wednesday Night,  May 27th, we will have a discussion about the recently released 2014 Religious Landscape Study by the Pew Research Center. The subtitle for the study is: “Christians Decline Sharply as Share of Population – Unaffiliated and Other Faiths Continue to Grow.” The survey of 35,000 people found that between 2007 and 2014 that people who identified themselves as Christians fell from 78% to 71% while the religiously unaffiliated (aka “Nones”) increased from 16% to 23% in the same time period.

Strangely, the increase in the “Nones” does not correlate to an increase in Atheists or Agnostics. The increase appears to be coming from former church members. The largest group of former Christians appears to be in the 18-26 year old group; however, the older generation that was born before 1964 has dropped by 2% since 2007. Some of the “Nones” who believe in “nothing in particular” say they “believe in God, pray at least occasionally and think of themselves as spiritual people.” Another factor that seems to be influencing these changes is religious pluralism. There are so many “religious” options that over 1/3 of the survey group say that they have switched away from the religious group in which they were raised. Some have switched to “None.”

The “Nones” growing at 1% per year is a shocking statistic – but I think Pew’s numbers are actually low. We are surrounded by people with no real church affiliation who claim to be a “spiritual” person and believe they are “heaven bound” when this life is over. How do you witness to a person who does not show the “fruits of repentance” (Mat 3:8) but who believes their relationship with God is just fine?

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