The big news in the new Pew study? That religion is fluid in the USA — 44% have changed denominations or faith:

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion – or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.
The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

But who is surprised by this? I have switched denominations three times since becoming a Christian, I went from Methodist to Lutheran to Presbyterian and my husband has switched four times (he started out as Catholic). Though we’ve moved through different denominations, our belief in Christ remained the same, the move reflects a deeper understanding of theology. Movement from the religion of our youth can actually be a positive if we are making the faith of our childhood our own. And today people are more inclined to move since we are a more consumer-driven society. Why not try out the new mega church with its coffee bar and gym? Why stick with the denomination that you grew up in since they lack adequate youth programs/Sunday School programs/worship music? And with the fluidity of the job market, people move in and out of congregations at an alarming rate (you can’t always find your denomination) in a new area (people are moving to and from our church all the time). So, 44% doesn’t really seem that high when you consider how much we move around in general.
Protestantism is close to becoming a minority with only 51.3% but Christianity is still the dominate religion with 78%. Catholicism is on the decline but an influx of immigrants has kept the percentage of Catholics steady.

The really bad news in the study is that people are dropping out of organized religion altogether and they are doing it at a faster rate than those who are joining a religious affiliation for the first time. Religions are losing people at a faster rate than they are gaining new people. This doesn’t mean that they have all become atheists since the bulk of the unaffiliated is “nothing in particular” with only 1.6% self-declared atheists and 2.4 self-declared agnostics. This news is obviously troubling since it reflects dissatisfaction with religion in general. People who were raised in religion have lost their affiliation with it. I would find this discouraging if my own life weren’t reflected in this category as well. I stopped attending church a few years before I became a Christian, so I know that there is hope for those who have left the religion of their youth, they may return when they are older or wiser (or the Lord draws them to himself :-).
And that touches on a problem with this study. During that time that I wasn’t attending church, I probably would have said I was a Methodist and my husband would have said he was Catholic but that wasn’t really a reflection of our belief system. We weren’t even Christians and it would have been incorrect to include us in the Christianity category. I wonder how many others are holding on to the affiliation of their youth but should really be in the unaffiliated category. I’m not really encouraged by the 78% of Christians or even the 51% Protestants since there was no corresponding question of church attendance. That information would have given us a better picture of affiliation and nonaffiliation.