Americans are ditching their religions

Americans are ditching their religions …

Transcript

00:00The number of Americans who are switching religions is on the rise, according to a new poll.

00:04So why are Americans ditching or changing their affiliations, and what else did the survey find?

00:08Brooke can explain in less than 60 seconds.

00:10According to the Public Religion Research Institute's latest poll,

00:14almost 25% of Americans said they follow different religious traditions than they previously did,

00:19or are a part of a different denomination entirely.

00:22For comparison, in 2021, just 16% of Americans said they had changed their

00:26religious affiliations at some point in their lifetime.

00:28Meaning this new jump is a 50% increase from previously reported data.

00:32The top reasons people switched, according to the survey,

00:35were they stopped believing in the religion's teachings,

00:38had negative religious teachings about or treatment of LGBTQ plus people,

00:42or cited scandals involving leaders and former religion.

00:46Most of those who switched were turning away from Christian teachings,

00:49with the Catholic Church and non-evangelical Protestants losing the most members.