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New Survey Shows Americans Becoming Less Religious

FARMINGTON HILLS (WWJ) - Do you believe in God? America is becoming less religious, according to new data from Pew Research Center — with the trend more pronounced among young adults.

An extensive new survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults finds that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years.

Many students talking to WWJ's Mike Campbell at Oakland Community College's Orchard Ridge Campus Tuesday morning were not surprised to hear what the survey said.

"I feel like that's pretty accurate," said 15-year-old Tristen Burke. "Because I feel like school has become such a big part of our lives, that we don't have time to like, go to church."

Her friend 17-year-old Hailey Fulton said she wishes more people believed.

"I think that people are putting their value in a lot of other things, other than religion — so they're starting with an incline in social media. We're seeing that people are putting their time and their cares into social media, rather than investing in a religion."

A male student, who didn't give his name, believes knowledge is the catalyst behind the decline.

"Probably more advances in science; more people are becoming more educated and believe in science, mathematics, technology," he said.

But 15-year-old Autumn Murray isn't buying what the research shows.

"I think it's false," she said. "Because I believe in God."

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. To get more details on the survey's findings, visit this link.

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