While the blogosphere is abuzz with the news of 20% of Americans for the first time claiming no religious affiliation, there are a couple of the findings in this survey (aside from the rise in the shear numbers of the unaffiliated) that really should get the attention of the political class:
According to the poll, 34% of “younger millennials” – those born between 1990 and 1994 – are religiously unaffiliated. Among “older millennials,” born between 1981 and 1989, 30% are religiously unaffiliated: 4 percentage points higher than in 2007.
Poll respondents 18-29 were also more likely to identify as atheist or agnostic. Nearly 42% religious unaffiliated people from that age group identified as atheist or agnostic, a number far greater than the number who identified as Christian (18%) of Catholic (18%).
We are not just increasing, we are the future. And a clear majority of us have certain political leanings:
The Pew survey suggested that the Democratic Party would do well to recognize the growth of the unaffiliated, since 63% of them identify with or lean toward that political group. Only 26% of the unaffiliated do the same with the Republican Party.
And yet the political left is still ignoring us. A clear example of that, of course, being the democrats adding “god” to their party platform at the last minute. In the meantime, politicians on the right are never hesitant to run after the religious right.
Is that about to change? From the article:
In announcing the survey’s findings at the Religion Newswriters Association conference in Bethesda, Maryland, Green said the growing political power of the unaffiliated within the Democratic Party could become similar to the power the Religious Right acquired in the GOP in the 1980s.
“Given the growing numbers of the unaffiliated, there is the potential that that could be harnessed,” he said.
From your lips to God’s ear…
