American religious non-affiliation rose to one fifth, driven by generational replacement

Evidence

According to a recent Pew study, one fifth of the U.S. public do not affiliate with religion, increasing just over 15 percent from five years prior. The growth of these religiously unaffiliated Americans, known as the “nones,” likely results from generational displacement. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1166

Categorization

• XREF: The generational displacement mechanism for the ‘nones’ parallels the book’s own argument that each generation develops its own preferred attention-harvesting media, reshaping churches as attention competitors. — connects to: Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315; Fertility and age structure dwarf conversion in shaping religious demographics. — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 34; The Religious Right’s stances drove liberal-minded Americans out of denominations entirely — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 446 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Fertility and age structure dwarf conversion in shaping religious demographics. #expands (0.82) — Margaret Hodson, Baby Jihad, 34
• Secular institutions, atheist prevalence, and religiosity decline reinforce each other in a self-amplifying loop #corroborates (0.72) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 315