Men Less Attached to Religious Affiliation

Sam Rainer

The latest statistical blurb from Pew Research is not surprising: men are less likely to have a religious affiliation than women. Much has been written on the lack of male representation in the congregation, but Pew gives us the exact percentage. Approximately one in five men (19.6%) is totally unaffiliated with a religion.

What seems to be an anomaly, however, is that men are more likely than women to be attached to a religion other than Christianity. You can read the full article here; below is an excerpt:

Men are significantly more likely to claim no religious affiliation than are women; nearly one-in-five men have no formal religious affiliation, almost seven percentage points more than women. Men are also twice as likely to say they are atheist or agnostic as compared with women (5.5% vs. 2.6%). Women are more likely to be affiliated with nearly every major Christian group; nearly 54% of women are Protestant, for instance, compared with 49% of men. But men are slightly more likely than women to associate with other religious traditions, including Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.

What say you guys? Is this trend getting worse or better? Is the church beginning to reach out to men more? There certainly is more talk about this subject, which is good. But do any of you have success stories about reaching this half of the population?