Author	[Modern View]
Thesmoothedeere 12-04-2012 18:32:32 69.171.171.136 Report to Moderator	Variously defined, irreligion appears to be increasing (along with secularization generally), particularly in some Western countries. It is increasing in absolute numbers with overall population growth, but is decreasing as a percentage of the world population, due primarily to population increases in more religious developing countries outpacing population growth (or decline) in less religious developed countries. (See the geographic distribution of atheism.) The American Religious Identification Survey gave nonreligious groups the largest gain in terms of absolute numbers: 14.3 million (8.4% of the population) to 29.4 million (14.1% of the population) for the period 1990–2001 in the U.S.[3][28] Reuters describes how a study profiling the "no religion" demographic found that the so-called "nones", at least in the U.S., are the fastest growing religious affiliation category.[32] This group consists of 33% agnostics, 33% theists, and 10% atheists.[1] A 2012 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reports, "The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling."[2] A similar pattern has been found in other countries such as Australia, Canada, and Mexico. According to statistics in Canada, the number of "Nones" increased by about 60% between 1985 and 2004.[33] In Australia, census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics give "no religion" the largest gains in absolute numbers over the 15 years from 1991 to 2006, from 2,948,888 (18.2% of the population that answered the question) to 3,706,555 (21.0% of the population that answered the question).[34] According to INEGI, in Mexico, the number of atheists grows annually by 5.2%, while the number of Catholics grows by 1.7%.[35][36] In New Zealand, over 34% of the population are irreligious making it largest percentage of total population in Oceania region.{{cndate=November 2012} [Reply]   [No Email]
doubleN 12-05-2012 03:41:59 74.45.18.222 Report to Moderator	Re: Lack of Holiday Lites in reply to Thesmoothedeere, 12-04-2012 18:32:32   May I read this one more time before you give us a quiz on it? [Reply]  [No Email]