Religion

As the percentage of U.S. adults who do not identify with a religious group grows, we asked these people to explain, in their own words, why they left.

At least three-quarters of adults under 30 talked to a congregation member or friend during their search, compared with just over half of those 65 or older.

About half of U.S. adults have looked for a new religious congregation at some point in their lives, most commonly because they have moved.

All states prosecute parents whose children come to severe harm through neglect. But in thirty-four states (as well as the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico), there are exemptions in the civil child abuse statutes when medical treatment for a child conflicts with the religious beliefs of parents.

As the political season transitioned from the primaries to the general election campaign, many American churchgoers were hearing at least some discussion of social and political issues from the pulpits at their houses of worship.

Emerging technologies that draw from biomedical technology, nanotechnology, information technology and other fields may lead to any number of ways people might be able to “upgrade” themselves. But a majority of Americans greet the possibility of these breakthroughs with more wariness and worry than enthusiasm and hope.

Americans are wary of the prospect of implanting a computer chip in their brains to improve their mental abilities or adding synthetic blood to their veins to make them stronger and faster. And this is particularly true of those who are highly religious.

Christian Brugger, a professor of moral theology at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, believes that people are right to be concerned about the social impact of human enhancement. Anders Sandberg, a research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University, thinks that, on balance, human enhancement will improve and enrich our lives.