Non-Religious Population Growing In Texas

The Pew Research Center recently did a survey on religion in the United States, and it turned out that the non-religious segment of the population is the fastest growing segment (as far as religion is concerned). It turned out that about one out of five people in this country say they are not affiliated with any religion (and 88% of them said they were looking for any religious affiliation). The percentage was highest among the youngest adults (and it seems that each generation has less religious affiliation than the last).

That didn't really surprise me. I believe this is becoming a more secular country all of the time. But a recent Texas Tribune/University of Texas Poll did surprise me a bit. It surprised me because it showed that Texas, a charter member of the infamous Bible Belt, has about the same percentage of the non-religious as the country as a whole. The survey was mainly a political poll, but at the end of it they asked several questions about religion. Here are some of the interesting results:

WHAT IS YOUR RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION?
atheist...............4%
agnostic...............5%
spiritual, but not religious...............12%
Total Non-Religious...............21%

THE BIBLE IS. . .
word of god & should be taken literally..........29%
word of god, but shouldn't be taken literally..........42%
not the word of god..........21%
don't know..........7%

HOW IMPORTANT IS RELIGION IN YOUR LIFE?
extremely/somewhat important...............76%
not very/not at all important...............25%

HOW OFTEN DO YOU ATTEND RELIGIOUS SERVICES?
over once a week...............14%
once a week...............19%
few times a month...............12%
1 or 2 times a year...............30%
never...............25%

When you consider all of these questions together, it becomes clear that at least one-fifth of the population of Texas is non-religious. That's more than I expected, and quite a bit more than just a few years ago. Texas may be a Bible Belt state, but it is not immune to the same forces shaping the nation as a whole. The number of non-religious people is growing.