A recent nationwide poll shows a “striking” trend that religion in the United States is on the decline, as a greater percentage of adults identify themselves as not belonging to any religious group at all.

Even more surprising in the survey conducted by Pew Research is the fact that an overwhelming majority (78 percent) of these non-religious American adults known as “nones” indicated that they were brought up as a member of a particular religion before they decided to abandon their religious affiliation altogether as an adult.

Losing their religion

According to Pew’s new survey that is part of its broader Religious Landscape Study, participating adults were asked to explain in their own words the reason they chose to no longer identify with any particular religion. When the results were tallied, researchers found that respondents basically picked one of several themes behind their rationale.

“About half of current religious ‘nones’ who were raised in a religion (49 percent) indicate that a lack of belief led them to move away from religion,” Pew researchers divulged. “This includes many respondents who mention ‘science’ as the reason [why] they do not believe in religious teachings, including one who said ‘I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles.’ Others reference ‘common sense,’ ‘logic’ or a ‘lack of evidence’ – or simply say they do not believe in God.”

Americans’ disillusionment with the religion that they practiced during their childhood was also blamed on a number of other general reasons.

“One in five express an opposition to organized religion in general,” the study found. “This share includes some who do not like the hierarchical nature of religious groups, several people who think religion is too much like a business and others who mention clergy sexual abuse scandals as reasons for their stance.”

Uncertainty is another excuse respondents gave for leaving their faith behind.

“A similar share (18 percent) say they are religiously unsure,” those conducting the study revealed. “This includes people who say they are religious in some way despite being unaffiliated (e.g., ‘I believe in God, but in my own way’), others who describe themselves as ‘seeking enlightenment’ or ‘open-minded,’ and several who say they are ‘spiritual’ if not religious.”

Those who have fallen away from practicing their religion explain their secular shift in a number of different ways.

“One in 10 religious ‘nones’ who say they were raised with a religious affiliation are now classified as ‘inactive’ religiously,” the pollsters informed. “These people may hold certain religious beliefs, but they are not currently taking part in religious practices. And most of them simply say they don’t go to church or engage in other religious rituals, while others say they are too busy for religion.”

Pew researcher break down religious “nones” into three categories: self-proclaimed atheists, self-identified agnostics and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.” Theses subgroups differ drastically when it comes to explaining why they no longer practice the religion of their childhood.

“An overwhelming majority of atheists who were raised in a religion (82 percent) say they simply do not believe, but this is true of a smaller share of agnostics (63 percent) and only 37 percent of those in the ‘nothing in particular’ category,” the statistics indicate.

Those who practice “nothing in particular” also differ greatly from atheists and agnostics in several substantial ways.

“In fact, while this [‘nothing in particular’] group certainly includes many nonbelievers, it also has substantial shares of people who, alternatively, are opposed to organized religion (22 percent) or who could be described as religiously unsure or undecided (22 percent),” researchers shared. “And more than one in 10 people with the ‘nothing in particular’ label (14 percent) say they are either non-practicing or too busy to engage in religious practices, compared with zero atheists in the survey and only 3 percent of agnostics.”

Specific reasoning behind unbelief

When American adults were asked why they are unaffiliated with any religion, one of the biggest explanations given was that they simply don’t believe.

Begging the question further, here are the specific reasons why they “don’t believe:”

“Learning about evolution when I went away to college.”

“Too many Christians doing un-Christian things.”

“Religion is the opiate of the people.”

“Rational thought makes religion go out the window.”

“Lack of any sort of scientific or specific evidence of a creator.”

“I just realized somewhere along the line that I didn’t really believe it.”

“I’m doing a lot more learning, studying and [I’m] kind of making decisions myself, rather than listening to someone else.”

Those who “dislike organized religion” give these reasons for their bias:

“I see organized religious groups as more divisive than uniting.”

“I think that more harm has been done in the name of religion than any other area.”

“I no longer believe in organized religion. I don’t attend services anymore. I just believe that religion is [a] very personal conversation with me and my creator.”

“Because I think religion is not a religion anymore. It’s a business … it’s all about money.”

“The clergy sex abuse scandal.”

“The church’s teachings on homosexuality.”

Pew also divulged some explanations that adults gave for being “religiously unsure/undecided:”

“I don’t have a particular religion because I am open-minded and I don’t think there is one particular religion that is right or wrong.”

“I feel that there is something out there, but I can’t nail down a religion.”

“Right now, I’m kind of leaning towards spirituality, but I’m not too sure. I know I can pray to my God anywhere. I do believe in a higher power, but I don’t need a church to do that.”

Here is the rationale given by some who consider themselves to be an “inactive believer:”