Church in Crisis: More African Americans are becoming atheists

The Global Index of Religiosity and Atheism, a study released in August of this year, found that the number of Americans who say they are religious dropped from 73 percent in 2005 to 60 percent in 2012. A 2011 poll conducted by The Barna Group revealed similar findings. Barna Group looked at church attendance from 1991 to 2011 and found that it dropped from 48 percent to 39 percent. A GIRA poll found that Americans who identify as atheist rose from 1 percent to 5 percent.

That sounds like a lot of extra seats. Something that was unheard of from 2004 to 2006, considered the “peak” of mega-church popularity. 

Black folks have cherry-picked what days they want to attend church since…forever. That isn’t new. But what is new is the growing number of black people who are leaving the church, and their faith.

Read more on Loop 21.