By the Numbers: Nonbelievers in the U.S.

Dr. Judith Banister

November 12, 2017

What is the situation today regarding religious believers and nonbelievers in this country? For some people, the religious landscape is changing frightfully fast. But for many of us, progress toward Humanism and Atheism seems glacial.

The best source of reliable current data and insights on nonbelievers and believers in the U.S. is the surveys designed and carried out by the Pew Research Center. For decades, this unbiased research group has conducted large in-depth surveys to get at respondents’ actual religious or nonreligious beliefs, practices, and affiliations. Let us use Pew Research results to assess not only what recent trends have been, but also where we stand today as a nation.

Dr. Judith Banister is a local Ph.D.-level demographer (population specialist) and statistician. Raised Protestant, Judy became a strong Atheist and Humanist at age 18 when she took an eye-opening college course on the History of Religions. Judy will report and analyze for us the Pew Research Center’s surveys and resulting reports from the most recent decade. Then we will explore together what this reality means for us Humanists and how this knowledge can help guide us going forward.

Click here to see the slides that the speaker showed during her talk.

Humanist Community Forum (2017-11-12): By the Numbers: Nonbelievers in the U.S. (Dr. Judith Banister) from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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