Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as oneImagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
– John Lennon, “Imagine”
The results of the American Religion Identification Survey (link goes to PDF) for 2008 have been released, and the Washington Post reports that the survey found a significant decrease in the number of people self-identifying as Christians and an inversely-increased number of people declaring themselves as having no religion at all.
Fifteen percent of people surveyed nationwide self-identified as not practicing any religion at all, and regional variations were as high as 34% in Vermont (22% here in Massachusetts). That’s nearly double from the 8.2% result in the first survey, conducted in 1990, and up a full percentage point from 2001. Among people who self-identify as Christians, there is a growing trend away from affiliation with a specific denomination as well as an abandonment of religion overall. The survey further extrapolates the numbers to conclude that 12% of Americans are self-identified atheists or agnostics, and that nearly 12% of the people who did express holding religious beliefs do not subscribe to traditional beliefs about the existence of a “personal God”.
The Boston Globe also looks at this survey data and reports the angle that the number of self-identifying Catholics in New England has significantly decreased. In 1990, Catholics made up 54% of the population of Massachusetts, but that number has reduced to 39% in the latest survey, and for all six New England states has fallen to 36%.
Now if we could get a few bus signs up…
