Survey: More Americans identify as having no religion

This weekend is an important one for many Americans who are religious.

For people of the Jewish faith, it is the beginning of Passover, and for Christians, it is the culmination of Holy Week.

Thousands of faithful church goers attended services on Friday all over the Central Coast for Good Friday.

A full crowd came to Compass Church in Salinas to hear Pastor Mike Ladra preach at the first of two services reflecting on the death of Christ.

But in downtown, people we spoke with say going to church is only something they used to do when they were little.

“Growing up out of that and going on my own, I just basically decided to adopt some of the principles of living a good life. You know: don’t lie don’t cheat, don’t
kill, none of that stuff and just be a good person,” said Ricky Estrada, a Monterey resident.

Estrada grew up Catholic, but like a growing number of Americans, he now does not claim any religion.

A 2018 General Social Survey just released shows that the number of no-religion Americans rose to 23 percent. That is about equal to the number of people who identify as Evangelicals and Catholics, the largest religious groups in the United States.

“I see a lot of my friends that are also not religious. Their parents are religious, but they themselves are not,” said Estrada.

“Right now, I would say especially with the younger kids, religion is something is something they don’t really care about,” said Steven Nelson, the young adults pastor at Compass Church. “I wouldn’t say that they don’t hear about it because they do. But I just don’t think they think it’s relevant to their lives.”

Nelson is part of pastoral leadership at Compass Church. He believes a few things may be contributing to a rise in non-religious people: parents who are less strict about going to church, friend groups and college campuses that Nelson believes are intellectually biased.

“Especially in college campuses right now, it’s just really tough to really have a firm faith and not seem like you’re silly,” said Nelson.

But many people do still find value in religion, even those who tell KION they left the faith before.

“There was an emptiness inside me, I guess you could say. And it wasn’t until I came to this church that I realized what I was missing was church, was God,” said Courtney Sellars, who attends Compass Church. “Bringing Him into my life filled that void and actually made me a better person.”

And churches like Compass believe that the best way to attract people back to the faith is by shining their light before others.

“The closer you are to Christianity, the more it’s telling you to love on other people who do not belong to (their church) or do not belong to their race or gender,” said Nelson. “It’s really promoting peace and love.”

That survey also shows that there has been a slight uptick in people who identify as Mainline Protestants. Those include your Presbyterians, Episcopalians and other older, non-Catholic denominations.