Study Shows Religious Shift

The results of a new survey released this week show that half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives.

The study, "Faith in Flux," which was conducted by Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is a follow-up to the "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey" that was based on research in 2007 and then released in 2008. Between Oct. 3 and Nov. 7 of last year, 2,800 people, who were among the 35,000 who were originally surveyed in 2007, were re-contacted.

The results also reveal that:

• Most people who change their childhood faith do so before age 24.
• Fifteen percent of Americans who were raised Protestant are now affiliated with a different Protestant denomination.
• Nine percent of Americans who were raised Catholic are no longer affiliated with the Catholic faith. Five percent are now Protestant and four percent are not affiliated with any church.
• Seven percent of Americans who were raised Protestant are no longer affiliated with any religion.
• Sixteen percent of Americans say they are now unaffiliated with any religion.

To read the full report, which includes analysis of why people change churches or leave the faith, CLICK HERE.