Religious Changes in America
A study on American religious life shows that Roman Catholics have been moving from the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians is declining and 15% of Americans say that they don't have any kind of religion at all.
New England is the area where atheists dominate. About 34% of the population of Vermont says they have no religion.
In the United States Roman Catholics remain the largest religious group. Almost 60% say they belong to this religion. In 2008 76 % of the adults were Christian compared to about 86% in 1990. Over the past years the number of Protestants dropped to 17% of the population.
The survey found that religion does not play such a big role in the lives of many Americans. 30% percent of those asked said they did not have a wedding in church and almost the same number does not want to have a religious funeral.
More and more people are turning to so called megachurches. They use rock music and less organized praying to attract people who don't usually go to church.
Evangelical or born-again Americans make up 34% of the population. Mormons have stayed constant at 1.4 % of the population, while the number of Jews has decreased.
Related Topics
Words
- adult = grown-up, not a child
- atheist = a person who does not believe in any kind of god
- attract = here: to make them come
- decline =to go down
- decrease = to go down
- drop = to go down
- funeral = the ceremony that happens when you die
- population = the people who live in a country or area
- praying = to say words to God
- remain = stay
- wedding = the ceremony that takes place when two people marry