[[File:David Silverman Reason Rally.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px251px|[[David Silverman]] was the president of the [[American Atheists]] organization. Silverman was fired due to allegations of financial conflicts and sexual assault.<ref>[https://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/david-silverman-atheist-fired-sexual-misconduct?utm_term=.yt64RqDPA#.ordaNrO4R This Firebrand Atheist Was Just Fired After Allegations Of Financial Conflicts And Sexual Assault]</ref> ]]
According to the 2014 [[General Social Survey]] (GSS), the number of [[atheism|atheists]] and [[agnosticism|agnostics]] in the United States has remained relatively stable in the past 23 years. In 2014, 3% of Americans identified as atheists, and 5% identified as agnostics.<ref>Hout, Michael; Smith, Tom (March 2015). "[http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Religion_2014.pdf Fewer Americans Affiliate with Organized Religions, Belief and Practice Unchanged: Key Findings from the 2014 General Social Survey]" (PDF). General Social Survey. NORC</ref> In 1991, 2% of Americans identified as atheist, and 4% identified as agnostic.<ref>Hout, Michael; Smith, Tom (March 2015). "[http://www.norc.org/PDFs/GSS%20Reports/GSS_Religion_2014.pdf Fewer Americans Affiliate with Organized Religions, Belief and Practice Unchanged: Key Findings from the 2014 General Social Survey]" (PDF). General Social Survey. NORC</ref>
Darel E. Paul wrote at the [[First Things]] website:
{{Cquote|Even without demographic models, survey data since the 1970s show that the percentage of Americans with a “strong” religious affiliation has not declined at all; it is the “weak” that have turned into “nones“[[nones]].” Moreover, immigration brings primarily religious people from the Global South into the Global North. In his earlier book, Kaufmann predicted that America’s secular high-water mark will occur around 2030; in Western Europe, no later than 2070. In Kaufmann’s view, religious identity will largely overpower ethnic identity a century hence, “with seculars and moderates of all backgrounds lining up against the fundamentalist sects.”<ref>[https://www.firstthings.com/article/2019/11/the-future-is-mixed THE FUTURE IS MIXED] by Darel E. Paul, First Things website</ref>}}
Pew Research survey data indicates that the percentage of atheists in the United States has remained at 4% from 2015 to July 2019.<ref>[https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace], Pew Research</ref>
{{Cquote| In the United States, they manage 1.5, considerably lower than the national 2.1. This disadvantage is not enough to prevent religious decline in much of Europe and America today, but secularism must run to stand still. Since the history of religious decline in Europe suggests that secularization rates tend to drop over time, this portends the end of secularization. Projections I recently published with Skirbekk and Goujon in the journal Sociology of Religion show secularism losing momentum and beginning to decline in both Europe and America by 2050, largely because of low fertility and religious immigration.<ref>[http://www.aei.org/publication/the-future-will-be-more-religious-and-conservative-than-you-think/ The Future Will Be More Religious and Conservative Than You Think] by Eric Kaufmann, American Enterprise Institute</ref>}}
Kaufamann Regarding the [[Western World]] as a whole and the growth of the religious population in the West, Kaufmann wrote:{{Cquote|...this paper claims that the developing world will not only never catch up, but that, ironically, it is the West which will increasingly come to resemble the developing world. Committed religious populations are growing in the West, and will reverse the march of secularism before 2050. The logic which is driving this apparently anti-modern development is [[demography]], a shadowy historical force whose power multiplies exponentially with the modernisation process. Demography is about raw numbers, and, in an age of low mortality, its chief components are fertility and migration.<ref>[http://www.sneps.net/RD/uploads/1-Shall%20the%20Religious%20Inherit%20the%20Earth.pdf ''Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century'' by Eric Kaufmann]</ref>}} Kaufmann wrote about irreligion/irreligion and the [[culture war]] in America:
{{cquote|High evangelical fertility rates more than compensated for losses to liberal Protestant sects during the twentieth century. In recent decades, white secularism has surged, but Latino and Asian religious immigration has taken up the slack, keeping secularism at bay. Across denominations, the fertility advantage of religious fundamentalists of all colours is significant and growing. After 2020, their demographic weight will begin to tip the balance in the [[Culture War|culture wars]] towards the conservative side, ramping up pressure on hot-button issues such as [[abortion]]. By the end of the century, three quarters of America may be pro-life. Their activism will leap over the borders of the 'Redeemer Nation' to evangelize the world. Already, the rise of the World Congress of Families has launched a global religious right, its arms stretching across the bloody lines of the War on Terror to embrace the entire Abrahamic family.<ref>[http://questionevolution.blogspot.com/2012/05/why-are-years-2012-and-2020-key-years.html Why are 2012 and 2020 key years for Christian creationists and pro-lifers?]</ref>}}
For more information, please see: [[Growth of global desecularization#Growth of evangelicalism in the world and in the United States|Growth of evangelicalism in the world and in the United States]] and [[Desecularization#American culture war, demographics and expected tipping point after 2020|American culture war, demographics and expected tipping point after 2020]]
In 2022, Pew Research reported:
{{Cquote|Looking at the experience of 80 countries, we find that the share of people who were raised as Christians and switch away from Christianity has not risen much above 50% anywhere, even in highly secular Western European countries. For American Christians concerned about these trends, that could be the demographic good news of the day. If there truly is a floor under Christian retention rates, the net movement from the ranks of Christian to the ranks of the [[Nones|religiously unaffiliated]] eventually may stop.<ref>[https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/09/29/religious-switching-patterns-will-help-determine-christianitys-course-in-u-s/ Religious ‘switching’ patterns will help determine Christianity’s course in U.S.], Pew Research, 2022</ref>
=== Fertility rates, secularism, religiosity and future U.S. trends ===