The Freedom From Religion Foundation is delighted to see a new study showing that half of Latinos born in the United States today identify as religiously unaffiliated (“Nones”).
The Pew survey finds that while Catholicism remains the preferred religion among Latinos, Latinos of all ages are rapidly leaving Catholicism. 67 percent of Latinos identified as Catholic in 2010; as of 2022, only 43 percent of adult Latinos identify as such.
And it is not as if Latinos are leaving Catholicism for another religion: 30 percent of Latinos overall identify as religiously unaffiliated. That number is up from 10 percent in 2010 and 18 percent in 2013. Among Latinos in the 18-29 age group, a delightfully shocking 49 percent identify as religiously unaffiliated, which is on par with overall statistics for Generation Z (those born after 1996).
While these numbers are certainly worthy of a headline, FFRF has long been allied with freethinkers in the Latino community. FFRF Board Member David Tamayo co-founded Hispanic American Freethinkers in 2010, and remains a leading figure in the group today. This group seeks to serve the community “as a resource and support to all Hispanic freethinkers.”
“I am absolutely elated to see members of the Latino population casting aside the dogma that has resulted in generations of families following the Catholic Church,” says FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Although Freethinkers among Latinos are not unknown to us, it is nice to see that the numbers are growing substantially.”
FFRF is also happy to see that, in addition to the traditionally religious Latino community leaving faith, other segments of the population are also letting go of the dogma of religion. Eastern Illinois University Professor Ryan Burge has an article in the Religion News Service that highlights people bidding farewell to religion in surprising places across the United States. Counties in states such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan have witnessed a 10 percent or more decline in religious affiliation.
Added to this is a new finding about our neighbors to the north: A new survey reveals that only about half of Canadians believe in God. Based on the 2021 census, Statistics Canada last fall had put the proportion of nonreligious Canadians at almost 35 percent, indicating that the religiously unaffiliated segment of the population has more than doubled in the past 20 years.
As the nation’s largest association of freethinkers (atheists and agnostics) that works in part to educate the public on matters of nontheism, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is excited to see the exodus from religion by many individuals belonging to traditionally religious sectors.
