A once-in-a-decade report shows membership in religious denominations is dropping in the states of Kentucky and Indiana, as well as throughout the nation. The survey shows the largest decliners include the Roman Catholic Church and many historic Protestant denominations.
The survey was conducted by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
The Courier-Journal reports the group gaining the most members is the group of Americans who claim no religious affiliation at all. According to the survey, those fitting that profile include 18 million Americans.
In Kentucky, religious denominations reported a 1% membership decline, with a 5% drop recorded in Indiana.
Those declines come even as each state’s overall population has increased 7%.
One group gaining in numbers nationally is nondenominational churches. With more than 12 million such churches in the US, nondenominationals outnumber all but two denominations in the US.
Young people are leading the way in leaving church, with one-third of adults under 30 reporting having no religion in 2011.
