Americans Relocating Faith of Their Fathers; A New Survey Finds Many Are Abandoning Mainline Churches for Other Opportunities

Brumley, Jeff, The Florida Times Union

Byline: JEFF BRUMLEY

As a minister to Jacksonville college students, Shari O'Brien doesn't need a survey to tell her that a quarter of young adults claim no affiliation with a religious institution.

Nor did Gee Sprague, a local Methodist minister, need a poll to tell him mainline Protestant churches are in decline or that about half of American adults are quitting the faiths they were raised in for nondenominational congregations, other religions or no religion at all.

But confirmation that these trends are continuing as strong as ever came Monday when the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life issued its U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Relying on interviews with more than 35,000 adults, the survey describes a nation where religious self-identification and loyalty are in flux.

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Publication information: Article title: Americans Relocating Faith of Their Fathers; A New Survey Finds Many Are Abandoning Mainline Churches for Other Opportunities. Contributors: Brumley, Jeff - Author. Newspaper title: The Florida Times Union. Publication date: February 26, 2008. Page number: Not available. © 2007 The Florida Times-Union. COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.

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