Changing religions not uncommon, survey says

Americans change religious affiliation early, often and for a variety of

reasons.

So say officials from the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public

Life, citing their "Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S."

survey released Monday.

Other highlights: About half of the nearly 2,900 surveyed — 44 percent — have

changed from their childhood faith; many of those have changed more than once;

and most changing faiths did so before the age of 24.

"Faith in Flux" is a follow-up to last year's "U.S. Religious Landscape

Survey" from the Washington, D.C.-based independent think tank. The 2,867

participants in the "Flux" survey are 80 percent of those who identified

themselves on the original survey as having changed their religion.

The interviews were done with the three largest populations of those changing

affiliation — Catholics, Protestants and the "unaffiliated." Other religious

groups — including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — had

segments too small to survey and to appropriately represent national trends.

Pew Forum senior fellow John Green noted that "change is not a reflection of

decreased spiritual commitment" but rather a reflection of a "marketplace" of

religious options. "Because American religion is so diverse, it shouldn't surprise us that the

reasons people change religion are so diverse," Green said.

Most former Catholics who are now unaffiliated or have joined Protestant

faiths say their decision was prompted by feelings of unfulfilled spiritual

needs as well as having stopped believing Catholic teachings, particularly in

abortion, homosexuality and birth control.