motivation

The Pew Forum released the results of their U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Some interesting findings:

• 28% of American adults have left the faith they were raised in for another religion, or no religion at all.
• The number of people who say they are currently unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were unaffiliated with a particular faith as children.
• Of those who report no religious affiliation, the majority (12.1% of the adult population overall) describe their religion as "nothing in particular," as opposed to atheist or agnostic.
  
• One-quarter of young adults (18-29) are currently unaffiliated with a particular faith.

Some of the Forum's observations:
"The United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country."

"Men are significantly more likely than women to claim no religious affiliation. Nearly one-in-five men say they have no formal religious affiliation, compared with roughly 13% of women."

"People not affiliated with any particular religion stand out for their relative youth compared with other religious traditions. Among the unaffiliated, 31% are under age 30 and 71% are under age 50. Comparable numbers for the overall adult population are 20% and 59%, respectively."

"In sharp contrast to Islam and Hinduism, Buddhism in the U.S. is primarily made up of native-born adherents, whites and converts. Only one-in-three American Buddhists describe their race as Asian, while nearly three-in-four Buddhists say they are converts to Buddhism."