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Study: Atheists Have Lowest 'Retention Rate' Compared to Religious Groups (Hindus have highest)

Christian Post ^ | 07/12/2012 | Napp Nazworth

Posted on by SeekAndFind

Those who grow up in an atheist household are least likely to maintain their beliefs about religion as adults, according to a study by Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).

Only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults. This "retention rate" was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in the study.

There were 1,387 atheists (weighted) in the survey. Four-hundred thirty-two weighted respondents said they were raised atheist. Of those, 131 self-identified as atheist.

"What these findings reflect is that in the U.S. atheists are for the most part 'made' as adults after being raised in another faith. It appears to be much more challenging to raise one's child as an atheist and have them maintain this identity in their life," Dr. Mark Gray wrote at CARA's blog.

Gray also noted that, "of those raised as atheists, 30% are now affiliated with a Protestant denomination, 10% are Catholic, 2% are Jewish, 1% are Mormon, and 1% are Pagan."

Jehovah's Witness, congregationalist and holiness churches had the next lowest retention rates at 37 percent, 37 percent and 32 percent, respectively. Thirty-eight percent of those who grew up with no particular religious faith or belief system remained that way.

Hindus had the highest retention rate at 84 percent, followed by Jews (76 percent), Muslims (76 percent), Greek Orthodox (73 percent), Mormons (70 percent) and Catholics (68 percent).

Baptists had the highest retention rate of the Protestant Christian categories at 60 percent, followed by Lutheran (59 percent) and Pentecostal (50 percent).

The study used the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Gray noted that Pew's original report did not include some of the retention rates. Pew provided CARA with the original data sets for the study.



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KEYWORDS:

atheism

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retentionrates





To: SeekAndFind

It’s pretty hard to stay connected to Nothing.



by 2 posted onby newheart (At what point does policy become treason?)

To: SeekAndFind





To: SeekAndFind

"What these findings reflect is that in the U.S. atheists are for the most part 'made' as adults after being raised in another faith..." I know many people who left organized religion because of incompetent Priests and preachers and took their families with them, never to return. Their children didn't return either, their parents' experience still fresh in their heads even decades later. Commercial christianity or for profit christianity creates a lot of atheists, while removing their path back to faith, all at the same time. Who/what would want results like that?



by 4 posted onby GBA (To understand what is happening to America and why, read The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn)

Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

Comment #6 Removed by Moderator

To: SeekAndFind

So do the Hindu stats include the reincarnated? Just askin...



To: SeekAndFind

Even an atheist must eventually come to the conclusion that the universe didn’t just create itself from a tiny point of nothing................



To: null and void

I don’t see Scientologists on there!...............



To: null and void

Kind of misleading chart, in that it breaks down Christianity into separate denominations, but Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and Jews are not..........Now, how would the chart look if all Christendom were taken as a whole?................



To: Red Badger

Yeah. Makes me sad.



To: IllsaywhatIwant

That’s a good point. There are many degrees of faith. And there are many degrees of atheism. This study doesn’t tell us what degree of faith or atheism these people have/had. It also doesn’t tell us their personal experiences and why they decided to convert later. It just gives us the numbers, and everything else is an assumption.



To: laker_dad

They must be counting bugs...............



To: SeekAndFind

Jews (76 percent), Muslims (76 percent), Greek Orthodox (73 percent), Mormons (70 percent) and Catholics (68 percent). All of these have a strong "cultural" component to stay as well as a religious one...



by 14 posted onby Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)

To: null and void; MarkBsnr; markomalley; NYer; Salvation; Gamecock; xone

interesting graph, thanks



by 15 posted onby Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)

To: Cronos

Fascinating. Baptists are the highest Protestants at 60%? Pentecostals at 50%? Presbyterians at 41%? Certainly indicated by myriad testimonials on FR.



by 16 posted onby MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)

To: null and void

A Scientologist’s kid tried to leave the church once. Once.



by 17 posted onby RichInOC (No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))

To: RichInOC

It’s not easy.



To: MarkBsnr

Many baptists don’t like to be called Protestants.



by 19 posted onby Cronos (**Marriage is about commitment, cohabitation is about convenience.**)

To: Cronos

Many baptists dont like to be called Protestants. Many platypuses don't like to be called mammals.



by 20 posted onby MarkBsnr (I would not believe in the Gospel, if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so.)

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