Unbelief is growing in America, says Pew survey

A new survey found that 19 percent of Americans had no religious affiliation.

A Pew Center survey has found that those who list their religious affiliations as "none" has grown from six percent in 1990.

Indeed, the number of "nones" has grown from six percent in 1990, to 15 percent in 2008 to nearly 20 percent today.

Authors of the study speculate that people are being turned off by the politicization of religion, among other reasons.

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"None" is becoming the "default category," said sociologist Barry Kosmin, co-author of three American Religious Identification Surveys, reported Newser.

"Young people are resistant to the authority of institutional religion, older people are turned off by the politicization of religion, and people are simply less into theology than ever before." 

USA Today reported that the numbers come from aggregated surveys of nearly 20,000 people conducted by the Pew Research Center last year.

According to the newspaper, the vast majority of those claiming no religious affiliation were young, single and highly educated.