jazeera america. >> there's been a large and rapid run up in a number of individuals who say they are not affiliated with any religion and don't believe what religions teach. but the religious profile is moving in the direction of those other countries . will those trends give religious bodies less clout in the future, will america in 2050 and 2100 be a much different place as a result? losing my religion, it's the "inside story."

♪ ♪ >> welcome to "inside story." i'm ray suarez. we've known for a long time that americans are less religiously affiliated with each passing year. the percentage of people who, when asked to name their religious, say none, will soon be as large and larger as major religious groupings in this country. when senator ted cruz a candidate for president recently said any president who doesn't begin every day on his knees, isn't fit to be commander in chief of this country, i wondered, is that idea that a president must pray, that a president must be a god-believer, one that will make sense to 20-year-old voters? 30-year-old voters? in a country growing as religiously diverse as this one. al jazeera's john terret has

this report on the pew center's latest study on religion in america. >> the religious landscape study suggests that overall americans are becoming modestly less religious. so we're seeing some changes for example, some modest declines in the shares of americans who say they believe in god or who say they attend religious services regularly or pray regularly. >> reporter: 63% of those surveyed say they're absolutely certainly god exists, whereas 71% said back in 2007 and there's a generational divide too. >> when we look at all the generations, sienl generatio sin of baby boomers, the younger generation particularly men millennials, are silent generation. >> reporter: 64% of generation

d, 65 to 80, agree, whereas only 50% of younger millennials, say they are absolutely certain. atheists agnostics or those who even believe in god who say they are unaffiliated. >> the religiously unaffiliated, we often refer to them as nones that is n. n-o-n-e-s. they are atheist, agnostic or anything in particular. this group has grown quite a bit in the u.s. >> the change shows up in politics as well. 19% back in 2007. whereas down only a modest 5%. >> the take away, is that while the religious landscape studies suggest that there is some

decline in religiousity, among those who are affiliated with religion, religiousity has remained very stable over this time period. so the u.s. remains a nation of believers, a nation that's very religious comparatively speaking. >> losing my religion this time on the program. joining me is greg smith, associate director of research at the pew research center with in its most recent findings on the secularist trend, found unaffiliateamericans becoming even more secular. what does that mean? >> it means you're seeing some very big changes staying place in the religious landscape. growing number of people who say they don't

rng define themselves with religion groups less thrieblg say religion plays a role in their lives or that pray regularly. what's happening, because this group is becoming less religious as it grows, it's tugging down on the nation's overall rates of religious observance. that's why we're seeing modest declines in the share of americans who are highly religious. >> so if we had talked to these nones in years past, when a greater percentage of them did not report being as secular as they are, how would they be different? would they have been adults who were raised attending religious services but choose not to now, people who have had families and parents who were religiously observant but not now? help me understand that. >> number 1 most of them were raised in a religious group as catholic,

protestant, protestant or jewish or so on. something to keep in mind when we talk about the religiously unaffiliated or ridges religious nones, some of them say religion is an important part of their lives. but the share who say those things, the share who say they don't believe in god is growing and the share who say that religion does not matter to them, is growing. >> as i've watched my own kids grow up i've noticed that more of my children' friends come from houses where not only were they not raised in a religion but often one or both of their parents weren't. is that something that points to a future where you kind of get critical mass and more of those people marry each other and there isn't even the memory of religious observe answer in a

household then. >> it's possible but looking into a future there are so many things that determine the future including things like differential fertility rates, and religious switching. ridges switching is very common in the united states. the opposite is true, you have many people who are raised with no religion, who wind up identifying with a religion as adults. so these trends all kind of work at cross-purposes and point in multiple directions at the same time. >> but when you see just a seven year span, an 8% drop in the number who believe in god, freks for instance, it's not hard to see where veefnl yo eventually o nonreligious americans. >> i don't know that we can look at the trends that have occurred in recent years and project them

out into the future indefinitely. because there's all these other factors that go into it. we have done some research at the pew research center where our demographers have looked at religious belonging all around the world and they have looked at fertility raitle and th ratee and gender composition, and the growth of the nones is likely to continue through the coming decades out to 2050 but not at quite the same rate, perhaps level off at a quarter of the population. there are other things that can go into that that change but that is what the research looks at this time. >> greg smith, thanks for joining us. thank you for having me. >> even with tens of millions of unaffiliated people, religion and religious identity play a role in the culture.

for setting the country's social thermostat. will it always be that way or have the trends of secularization gone so far that appeals to religious faith will eventually be just one competing way of seeing the way ahead, rather than what it's long been in america, head and shoulders above other influences? losing my religion, it's "inside story." >> at 9:30 - "america tonight" - top investigative reporting, uncovering new perspectives. >> everything that's happening here is illegal. >> then at 10:00 - it's "reports from around the world". >> let's take a closer look. >> antonio mora gives you a global view. >> this is a human rights crisis. >> and at 11:00 - "news wrap-up". clear... concise... complete.

>> you're watching "inside story." i'm ray suarez. we're looking at the growing number of religiously unaffiliated americans and asking what it means for the future. the so-called new atheists like sam harris, richard dawkins , christopher hitchins and if you want to laugh, bill maher, madeline murray o'hare in the other century. only arelative handful of the 535 members of congress, would say simply and straightforwardly, i doubt there's a god who created the world and intervene is in human affairs. joining me now:

professor, has the way we talk about, the unaffiliated, the so-called nones, even caught up with how numerous they are in the country, how unexceptional they are? >> they're very ordinary folks. we have them as friends, neighbors, and colleagues, perhaps not yet as representatives in congress as you mentioned earlier. but they are thro. and they're measured by the kind of expert polling that pew undertakes and they are growing. and it looks like these trends which have been going on for about 20 years are going to continue in the direction of less and less religiousity in the future. have. >> you wouldn't know it professor looking at the future looking at the time republican presidential primary debates would you? >> well, politics involves a lot of talk about god. but there are less and less signs that people, even mean the

same thing by god, or as the pew report suggests, that people consult the bible about guidance on moral matters. in fact the pew report shows the younger an american is the less likely it is that they'll rely on their denomination or their bible to give them moral answers. >> phil rouyhem bush, the world is shifting under our feet as we speak but how do people leave aside centuries of family tradition, leave aside what they were taught growing up, why is it so easy almost to shed that like changing your clothes? >> well, i think that we are in a moment where people are looking around, exposed to many different ways of seeing the world. i think scientific advancements have been important in that but also, it's about knowing different people and recognizing that my tradition is my tradition. but it's not everybody's tradition.

and maybe i have to start questioning my tradition. i will say that we are in a different moment politically because we do have a major candidate who has said he does not believe and that's bernie sanders. which i think you know has probably really perhaps been a problem for his campaign ultimately. but we do have representatives who have said they don't believe. what i think is very interesting is, now you find secular people or humanists who are beginning to organize secular societies or humanist societies and they are gathering much in the way that religious communities gather, in some ways mirroring that. >> reverend, if we went into a reform church in america, congregation a year ago we wouldn't have found a woman pastor. but that side, the people sitting there in the pews most likely would have had parents

who were reformed, neighbors who were reformed but i'm guessing the people who come through your front door today, in the 21st century, in a very secular upper west side of manhattan come for a wider variety of reason is that fair? >> that is certainly fair. i think that's also fair to say of my own faith. i did thought grow up in a reform church in america. and commuted to this denomination. so i'm part of the trend of what we're noticing here. and in our congregation we are looking at nones and believer believers meeting together and wanting to express the faith that it is curious, indulge and expressive along with doubt and belief. >> you're a young person. do you feel confident as we talk here today that in 20 years, in 50 years, that there's going to be a place for a congregation like yours, that there will be enough people to keep the lights

on and the heat bill paid? >> that's a great question. i think i'm noticing an anxiety among my colleagues in clergy, but that's unfortunate to me. because i think this is a time of creativity. i think of the christian scripture in isaiah, behold i am doing a new thing. and if we follow that, allow for the spirit to guide us, to do not fear, but then, we can involve ourself in creative endeavors and brand-new ways. i think we're going to see faith differently. >> well, i want you all to stay right where you are. stay with us. i'm curious, the is increasing secularization a trend that only goes in one direction or one that can ebb and flow over time, as we just heard suggested, for the rest of the century are we looking at an america that will only become less religious over

time and will the millions of immigrants and their children bring a vitality to the american pleurallist mix? losing my religion, it's the "inside story." stay with us.

>> i don't know if it's a particularly american trait. but we sure do love to misremember our history. sometimes in order to understand today and the past. contrary to what's widely said, americans aren't always getting less religious, less observant, less filthed. in the first half of the 19th century, americans were much less church affiliated. i can't help but think that we aren't a great deal less religious than we were in recent decades. all we've done is remove the social sanction to not be religious. the pressure of sitting with your family in

chump as if pose for a norman rockwell painting, isn't there anymore. nobody's taking attendance. not being filthed will not block your rise in business, your ability to make contacts, your participation in the social scene. i welcome that change, it's the kind of time when religious bodies can finally tell who their real friends are instead of having their head counts swelled by the unwilling and the reluctant and winning various social arguments by the force of numbers rather than the validity of the cause. we in churches mosques and synagogues will have to to work harder in the 21st century and smarter to have a role in the culture and convince others of the value of what we believe and if we can't do that, we'll have to shut our doors. i'm ray suarez and that's the "inside story."

anti-russia protests in turkey as the war os twine the two leaders escalates over the downed russian jet. ♪ ♪ hello, i am martin dennis, you are with al jazeera live from doha. also to come on the program. the pope in uganda on the second leg of his africa tour. we look at the hot button issues of contraception and homophobia. a gunman kills three people in a shooting at a u.s. abortion