20% of Americans Report "No religion"
Posted by Michael E. Marotta on 10/09, 12:59pm

It is at least an indication of change. The previous times of public distance from religion were the Enlightenment and the late 19th century. Many American revolutionaries were known deists when colonial governments supported religion. (Massachusetts taxed for the Congregational Church up to 1840.) Then, in the late 19th century, Robert G. Ingersoll, a Republican politician, was perhaps the greatest orator of the "Age of Free Thought." This may be one of those times...

The fastest growing "religious" group in America is made up of people with no religion at all, according to a Pew survey showing that one in five Americans is not affiliated with any religion.
The number of these Americans has grown by 25% just in the past five years..
Pew found that those who are religiously unaffiliated are strikingly less religious than the public at large. ...
Thirty-three million Americans now have no religious affiliation, with 13 million in that group identifying as either atheist or agnostic, according to the new survey.
And yet Pew found that 68% of the religiously unaffiliated say they believe in God, while 37% describe themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious.” One in five said that they even pray every day...

Nearly 40% of the unreligious are serious about it, though with some of them - and many others like them - somewhat confused about metaphysical principles. It is a start. And remember that the Age of Free Thought in the 19th century was officially declared closed by Theodore Roosevelt who called Thomas Paine, "a fithly little atheist." Interestingly, it was his religion that motivated Roosevelt to instruct August Saint Gaudens not to put "In God We Trust" on his famous $20 gold coins. Take your gains where you find them.

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