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I was watching an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher last night and he was discussing the retention rates of various religions in the U.S. He claimed that 44% of Americans switch their religious affiliation and then joked that Americans are more loyal to their cell phone carriers than to their religions. His statistics are based on this study conducted by the Pew Forum. Another interesting stat: 25% of Americans, age 18-29, claim no religious affiliation. This is an interesting study. Sorry if it has been posted and discussed before (I have a difficult time keeping up with all the posts lately).

PS: This thread is not about Bill Maher. If you hate him, cool. Discuss it elsewhere, please.

silentkid wrote:I was watching an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher last night and he was discussing the retention rates of various religions in the U.S. He claimed that 44% of Americans switch their religious affiliation and then joked that Americans are more loyal to their cell phone carriers than to their religions. His statistics are based on this study conducted by the Pew Forum. Another interesting stat: 25% of Americans, age 18-29, claim no religious affiliation. This is an interesting study. Sorry if it has been posted and discussed before (I have a difficult time keeping up with all the posts lately).

PS: This thread is not about Bill Maher. If you hate him, cool. Discuss it elsewhere, please.

I posted a study a few days ago that said essentially the same thing. People go to Church for a personal spiritual experience and are not too concerned with the doctrines.
http://www.fairfield.edu/x3714.html

When question was framed a different way (What is most important part of religion?) a different picture emerges:
69% - an individual's spiritual experience over doctrines and beliefs (24%). Spiritual experiences were chosen over "doctrines and beliefs" by both non-Christians (73%-15%) and Christians (69%-26%).

People are seeking and experimenting - "shopping" for churches, a reflection of a consumer culture? People may choose a church because of the music, or the preaching or a lively sense of community/hospitality or the youth program rather than for its denominational affiliation. There is a lot of movement from denomination to denomination that includes movement from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism. In many Protestant churches at least half of the people were raised in another religious home.

I think another explanation for the data is that when people get married, one of the spouses will adopt the religion of the other.