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DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Studies show that atheism is growing at an alarming rate in the United States.

According to data and analysis published in January by religious research company Barna Group, 13 percent of Generation Z identify as atheists. Generation Z consists of those born 1999-2015.

This is around double the percentage of atheists in previous generations. Only about 7 percent of U.S. Millennials, for instance, called themselves atheists.

Barna's data also showed a decrease in the number of professed Christians. Over the course of four generations, the percentage who call themselves Christians dropped from 75 percent among Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) to 59 percent in Generation Z.

For Catholics in particular, the percentage dropped from 27 percent of Boomers to a mere 17 percent of Generation Z.

Other Christian sects have had a similar decline but milder. Non-Catholic Christians make up 42 percent of Generation Z, a decrease from the 48 percent of Boomers.

Barna also reported, "More than one-third of Gen Z (37 percent) believes it is not possible to know for sure if God is real, compared to 32 percent of all adults."

These statistics come from a series of nationwide online surveys conducted by Barna in November 2016. There was a survey of "1,490 U.S. teenagers 13–18 years old; "a survey of "507 U.S. teenagers 13–18 years old; "and a "nationally representative study of 1,517 U.S. adults ages 19 and older."

In all cases, according to Barna, "The data were minimally weighted to known U.S. Census data in order to be representative of ethnicity, gender, age and region."

More than one-third of Gen Z (37 percent) believes it is not possible to know for sure if God is real, compared to 32 percent of all adults.

Church Militant has been warning for several years about the ongoing demise of Catholicism in American life. A common message is that the Church in the United States has a little less than a decade until it undergoes a demographic implosion.

Michael Voris said in a Vortex in November 2017, "There are so many demographics working against the Church that the future of the Church is going to be radically different than any of us have been used to."

Earlier this month, Church Militant reported on a Gallup Poll that showed that the percentage of Catholics who attend Sunday Mass has steadily declined for several decades.

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