GENERATIONS OF NONESTERS

"My faith left me and I drifted." -- Stephen Pariser, p. 240 

It's not just millenials who lose faith: as in Europe, abandonment of organized religion has been a strong and increasing trend in the United States since World War II. Pariser is in the vanguard of the baby boom generation (born 1946-1964), about one-fifth of which are "nonesters," people who check the "none" box for religion. Boomers are twice as likely to be nonbelievers compared to their parents silent generation (b. 1928-45), and even less religious are the boomer's children, generation X (b. 1965-80), one-fourth nonesters, and their millenial grandchildren (b. 1981-96), one-third without faith. Should current trends continue, more than half of the mid-century generation will be nonesters.

Are you a nonester? How about your parents? Your kids? Your grandkids? Could nonesters really become the majority? How would that affect our families, society, and nation?