Religiously Unaffiliated

Nine-in-ten Americans believe in a higher power, but only a slim majority believe in God as described in the Bible.

The U.S. has more foreign students enrolled in its colleges and universities than any other country in the world. Explore data about foreign students in the U.S. higher education system.

Most U.S. adults now say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral and have good values, up from about half who expressed this view in 2011.

About a quarter of U.S. adults now say they think of themselves as spiritual but not religious, up 8 percentage points in five years.

Though the percentage of religiously "nones" in America has risen, the global share of religiously unaffiliated people is expected to fall in coming decades.

Imagining the U.S. as a town of 100 people can help illuminate the nation's religious diversity.

The share of Americans who do not identify with a religious group is surely growing, but there are differing ideas about the factors driving this trend.

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.

The phrase “spiritual but not religious” has become widely used in recent years by some Americans who are trying to describe their religious identity.

We sat down with Michael Hout, a professor of sociology at New York University, to examine possible reasons.