Only a few decades ago,a Christian identity was so common among Americans that it could almost be taken for granted. As recently as the early 1990s,about 90% of U.S. adults identified as Christians. But today,about two-thirds of adults are Christians.6 The change in America's religious composition is largely the result of large numbers of adults switching out of the religion in which they were raised to become religiously unaffiliated. In other words,a steadily shrinking share of young adults who were raised Christian (in childhood) have retained their religious identity in adulthood over the past 30 years. At the same time,having no religious affiliation has become stickier: A declining percentage of people raised without a religion have converted or taken on a religion later in life.
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