"The most important story without a shadow of a doubt is the unbelievable rise in the share of Americans who are non-religious," says Ryan Burge, assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University."In 1972 only 5% of Americans identified as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular," Burge added."Today, it's 30% of Americans identify as 'nones.
"When I see the line graph pointing downwards, it's not just a line graph," he said."It's what I've seen every single Sunday of my life the last 16 years as we went from 52, 42, 32, 22, 10. This is not just some academic exercise for me. This is my life." "I'm not involved in any kind of religious group whatsoever," he said."I'm involved in being a decent human being to the people I meet."