Hartford (WTNH) - A new study shows a growing number of people don't identify with any religion leaving many to wonder if faith is being put on the back burner.

"In God we trust"...or, do we? It seems when it comes to religion we, as a society, have become a bit skeptical. A new survey out of Trinity College , in Hartford, is sending shock waves across Connecticut and the country.

"It's a very big change nationally," said Barry Kosmin of Trinity College.

Kosmin and Ariela Keysar are the lead investigators of the report. They call themselves "nones" -- not to be confused with the Catholic sisters. But when asked, "What religion do you follow?" They simply will reply, "None."

"Every region and state in the country is showing the same trend," said Kosmin.

Read more: http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/...

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There is a variety of belief in God among the Nones, ranging from theism to atheism, although the largest proportion (59 percent) is agnostic or deist. A small minority are atheists. Nones are simply more likely to be skeptics. Nones are not particularly superstitious or partial to New Age beliefs and they are more accepting of human evolution than the general U.S. population. Most Nones are first generation as only 32 percent of current Nones report they had no religion at age 12. That is to say, two-thirds were raised with a religion.

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The 1990s was the decade of the “secular boom.” Regarding the percentage of adult Americans who claim no religious affiliation, the researchers found that it had grown from 8.2 percent in 1990 to 14.2 percent in 2001 and to 15 percent in 2008. The growth of the Nones is a national phenomenon. They are the only group that increased in every state and region of the country during the past 18 years.

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In analyzing the data, the researchers determined who these Nones are and what characteristics can be attributed to them. What they found was somewhat surprising.
Nones are disproportionately likely to be politically independent (42 percent), one-third of Nones claim Irish ancestry, and 28 percent of the Nones now live in southern states.

“Politically, older Nones were often libertarian Republicans but the younger generation of Nones, born after 1973, has associated the Republican Party with the Religious Right and, as a result, split between the Democrats and the Independents,” said Navarro-Rivera.

Read more here: http://www.trincoll.edu/AboutTrinity/News_...