Traditional wisdom has it that America is not only highly religious but is getting more religious as time goes on. But is this true? There are in fact more nonreligious people in America than most realize - and their numbers seem to be increasing.

Big News reports on a new survey from the Institute for Jewish and Community Research:

The ... survey ... found that 16 percent of respondents declined to identify with a particular faith, up from less than 10 percent in the early '90s. This no-religion grouping is now the third-largest in the nation, behind Catholics, at 24 percent, and Baptists, at 17 percent.

This may or may not be part of a long term trend, but it is a sharp change and if it persists in any way then it would contradict the traditional notion that Americans are getting more religious. It may, in fact, be a sign that many Americans are moving in the same direction that Europe started down many years ago. Of course, the above results don't indicate that people are getting more secular — merely that they decline to name a religion they belong to. It may be that people are simply abandoning organized religious institutions.

Read More:

• Atheism 101
• Atheism in Society
• Secularism 101