Fox News – “The rise of the ‘nones’. Why is it happening?” FOX News contributor and Fox Nation host Tom Shillue asked a panel of experts on “Deep Dive.” Shillue was referring to new Pew Research Center polling that shows that more Americans than ever before say that they are not connected to any religious faith. The Pew survey, conducted in 2018 and 2019, found that the percentage of the U.S. population that described themselves as “religiously unaffiliated” had risen to 26%, up from 17% in 2009. At the same time, the percentage of Americans describing themselves as Christians has declined 12 percentage points over the past decades.
“First of all, I think the best way to understand ‘nones’ is ‘none of the above’ because that’s usually how the question is asked,'” said Fox News contributor, theologian and ethicist, Jonathan Morris, a former priest. “That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Much worse would be ‘I don’t believe in anything.’ That’s not really what this study says.” In fact, Pew Research Center has noted that among those who identify as “religiously unaffiliated” in their survey, “many… believe in God.” “It’s not ‘I don’t believe in God,'” continued Morris. “I remember when I was working down in lower Manhattan, which is a very young population. READ MORE
