FILE - The sun rises behind a stone cross atop the historic Cathedral Basilica of St. Frances of Assisi in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images) A recently released study suggests the number of Christians in the United States is diminishing quickly and being replaced by those who do not identify with any religion.A new report by Pew Research Center and the General Social Survey published Tuesday found a surge of adults leaving Christianity to become atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular." It predicted that if the number of Christians under 30 abandoning their faith accelerates beyond the current pace, adherents of the historically dominant religion of the U.S.
could become a minority by 2045.Noting how approximately 90% of Americans identified as Christians in the early 1990s, the study observed that number, which includes children, had fallen to only 64% by 2020.
The number of people in the U.S. who identify as religiously unaffiliated, meanwhile, skyrocketed from 16% in 2007 to 29% in 2020, the research showed.
Other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, accounted for approximately 6% in 2020.FILE - Interior St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church on Jan.