secularists_60203

Posted: 5/30/03

Gallup explores identifiers for nation's 'secularists'

PRINCETON, N.J. (RNS)–The 10 percent of Americans who claim no religion tend to be young, liberal and live on the West Coast, according to research by the Gallup Organization.

The so-called “secularists,” while “being detached from the religious process also are apparently more likely to be detached from other American institutions such as marriage and the political process,” Gallup researchers said.

While 69 percent of secularists are registered to vote, that figure is smaller than the 83 percent registered among Americans who claim a religious preference. The percentage of secularists who are unmarried and living with a partner–12 percent–is double that for religious Americans.

Secularists also are younger–those between the ages of 18 and 29 are four times as likely as those older than 65 to be secularists, and twice as likely as those between the ages of 50 and 64.

The Western United States–particularly Oregon and California–has a larger percentage of residents identifying as secularists (15 percent) than other parts of the country (typically less than 10 percent).

Forty-three percent of secularists describe themselves as moderate, while 35 percent are considered liberal and 20 percent are conservative. Other Gallup polls have shown that more religious people tend to be more conservative.

Only about 1 percent of Americans describe themselves as atheists, who have no belief in God, or agnostics, who aren't sure about the existence of God, according to the Gallup study.