United States Becoming More Secular
A just-published study by the American Religious Identification Survey found that 14.1% of Americans or 29,481,000 people identify as atheist, humanist, agnostic or non-religious (see pages 12-13, SO sorry about the PDF).
Additionally, nearly 40% of those who identified as Christian stated that neither they themselves nor members of their families belonged to or attended a church or religious institution. The difference between “identification as” and “affiliation with” [a religious institution] is very pronounced: people call themselves Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim… but don’t attend Church/Temple/Mosque. The association is more a state of mind than actual state of being.
While writing my book, I did a lot of research on Christmas around the world. I have concluded that the many versions of Santa Claus cooperate during the Christmas season, reminding us all of the benefits of unselfish, anonymous, generosity. It’s the idea of giving that reminds us; we are all on this planet together, for the long run. So let’s be kind to one another.
All the best,
Eric Dana Hansen
What is the title of your book?