Chicago's Christian identity declines
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As Lent continues and Easter approaches, fewer Illinoisans are observing the Christian traditions compared to decades ago, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
The big picture: "This is a broad-based social change," says Alan Cooperman, the director of religion research at the Pew Research Center.
- "We've had rising shares of people who don't identify with any religion — so called 'nones' — and declining shares who identify as Christian, in all parts of the country, in all parts of the population, by ethnicity and race, among both men and women, and among people at all levels of the educational spectrum," he says about the survey findings.
Zoom in: 59% of Chicagoans identify as Christian, down from 71% in 2014, according to Pew's survey of more than 35,000 Americans about religious and social beliefs.
- The biggest group of Christians identify as Catholic (34%).
- Meanwhile, 32% of Chicagoans identify as religiously unaffiliated, up from 22% in 2014.
Zoom out: Nationally, 29% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, up from 16% in 2007, according to Pew.
Between the lines: A significant portion of U.S. adults (35%) have switched religion since childhood, according to the study.