ATS publishes trends in student religious and denominational affiliation

From Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, Director of the Office of Professional Formation and Term Assistant Professor of Leadership and Formation at Iliff School of Theology:

Over the past several years, the United States and Canada have experienced increases in both religiously and denominationally unaffiliated individuals, as well as people from a variety of religious traditions other than Christianity. According to the Pew Research Center, the percentage of people unaffiliated with a religious tradi- tion in the US increased from 16% in 2007 to 22% in 2014. Over the same time period, the percentage of people affiliated with a non-Christian religion increased from 4% to 6%. Pew reported similar findings in Canada.

On the whole, theological schools have also experienced similar increases over the last 20 years. While schools traditionally have been designed to prepare religiously and denominationally related persons for ministry and leadership, largely congruent with the denominational affiliations of the schools themselves, many ATS schools are finding more students in their classrooms with no connection to a particular denomination or tradition, affiliation with multiple denominations or traditions, or affiliation with a non-Christian tradition.

Read the full report at ATS.