Religious ‘Nones’ Are A Complex Group, Hard To Pigeonhole

Few issues in religion have been as remarked upon and puzzled over lately as the rapid rise of “nones,” those who claim no religious affiliation. I’ve written about this before, I realize, but it’s a news story that just keeps developing. The latest development is a new study by the Pew Research Center, which finds that 28% of U.S. adults are now religiously unaffiliated. That doesn’t mean the remaining 72% of Americans are pious, or even sporadic churchgoers; it just means they have at least a nominal relationship with a faith group.