Is non-religion on the rise?

I'd suspect there's an increase in those turning their backs on formal mainstream Religions to seek alternatives.

Atheism is just one of many options.

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It could be, but it could also be that more people admit to it. It wasn't too long ago that there was a horrid stigma associated with being agnostic or an atheist. The founding fathers acknowledged that atheists had fought and played a part in the founding of the US, yet accusations of atheism made people think poorly of Thomas Jefferson. Even a little over a decade ago, George Herbert Walker Bush stated that he did not think atheists should be considered US citizens. Even today atheists are often at the bottom of public opinion polls - but overall the belief (or lack thereof) is far more accepted.

So, it could be that the numbers are increasing, or people are just more willing to be out about it, or both.

Of course it is! More people are realising that to believe in an invisible air fairy that is all-powerful is like believing that you enter Diagon Alley through the Leaky Caldron - it is only fantasy. As for when you grew up and didn't know of any atheists, you have to also remember that it was less than 400 years ago that people still believed that the Earth was the centre of the universe also. Until Galileo Galilee confirmed with a telescope what others had long theorised via mathematical equation. Would have made more discoveries too, however he was suppressed by the church - wonder why? ...wouldn't have anything to do with truth and the church losing all their money...

well, if you ask me then it depends from person to person. If a child is born in a family in which his/her mother is Christian and his/her father is a Jew and their grandparents are from a different cast all together then the child would be born confused and wont follow anything at all!

or else,

some people don't want to follow any religion as such. May be because they are really busy to follow teh rituals of that religionor some other reason.

there can be many reasons to have that 13% on the list.

we can just suggest a few possiblities!

other simply means different religions.thats all.

there are a certain no. of minority religions which are still followed by a few!

I don't think so. I actually study atheism and its history, and it appears to me that our society has become more open to non-belief, so people who do not believe are simply more open about it. I do not think the numbers have actually increased much, if any, but it is just easier for people to express their different beliefs. It is more culturally acceptable. It is not that unlike homosexuality. Decades ago if you came out as an atheist or gay person, you were ostracized from society. Now you are not, so these people are more visible, which makes them appear more numerous. But the truth is that they have always been here. People are, indeed, believing in different ways, but on the whole, I think that religious and spiritual people will remain in the vast majority as they do now. I won't call this a fact, but the evidence for it seems pretty solid at the moment.

As people become more educated religious and other superstitious beliefs decline . Do you equate VooDoo Dolls , Palm Reading and such with more educated people/cultures or less educated cultures ? These are just examples of smaller religions in this country . The Catholic Church, Scientology , and other religions have more "social respect" in this country because they amasessed great wealth , which some people equated with a symbol of spiritual truth . Just as other people equated the dark back alleys of New Orleans with spirit power . More educated people turn to science such as medicine .

Good! It's time people started to wake up to reality. Think about what the stats would have been 2000 years ago. You shouldn't have even seen Christianity or Judaism on the chart. Instead you would have seen the Greek and Egyptian and Sumerian religions dominating, Judaism even back then was a minority.

I have no way to know if it is growing or not. But I can see that many of the leaders of the fundamentalist Church's have lived lives opposite of what they have preached. There flocks have been betrayed and a number have turned away seeking some other path.

The United, Lutheran, and Catholic Church's have experienced similar types of betrayal of teachings and they have lost numbers as well, but I suspect (only from discussion with friends) the percentage is less.

Yes it is rising. I know very few fellow atheists in comparison to all of the people i know. But I know about 5 or 6 atheists other than myself and a lot of agnostics. Also science is causing more and more people to convert to atheism or agnosticism

Absolutely yes. 100-200 years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find any atheist, and may be a handful of agnostics. Today, I would say that they constitute the largest single group of people under 30.