(NewsReady.com) – Americans have always been deeply religious. The majority of US citizens consider themselves Christians. However, there’s one group that appears to be losing their religion.
On October 11, the Pew Research Center released a report about religion in the Asian-American community. According to the contents, the number of Asians who consider themselves to be religious is falling. The number of respondents who said they were unaffiliated with a religion rose from 26% in 2012 to 32%.
The data found only 34% of respondents said they consider themselves Christians, down from 42% in 2012. It’s not just Christianity that lost followers. Those who practice Buddhism dropped from 14% to 11%.
However, it’s not all projecting downward. Two religions grew larger. Six percent (6%) of respondents said they are practicing Muslims, up from 4% in 2012. Also, 11% said they are Hindu, an increase from 10% a decade ago.
While the number of people who say they are unaffiliated rose, 40% of respondents said they feel close to religious traditions, but they said it’s for reasons aside from religion. For instance, 21% said they feel close to Buddhism because of their culture or family background, despite the fact that only 11% told the survey that they were Buddhists.
Thirty-one percent (31%) of respondents said they believe religion is a very important part of their lives. The survey also broke down the group by country. For instance, 74% of Filipino-Americans identified as Christians; most of them said they are Catholic. Additionally, 59% of Korean-Americans said they’re Christians. However, only 15% of Indian-Americans practice Christianity.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Chinese-Americans said they weren’t affiliated with a religion. That was 9% higher than the 47% of Japanese-Americans who aren’t affiliated.
The rising number of people who aren’t affiliated with a religion is on track with other surveys. In May 2023, the Public Religion Research Institute found that only 16% of Americans surveyed said they believed religion was the most important part of their lives.
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