Barna finds one-third of Americans ‘unchurched’

Barna finds one-third of Americans ‘unchurched’

WASHINGTON — Americans are among the world’s most religious people, but a new study indicates that more than a third of all adults in the United States rarely attends any religious service.

The annual tracking survey conducted by The Barna Group found that 34 percent of American adults — about 76 million people — have not attended any type of church service or activity in the past six months, excluding special events such as weddings and funerals.

The March 20 study said the majority of Americans referred to as “unchurched” had attended at least one religious service earlier in their lives. Sixty-two percent of the unchurched described themselves as Christian, 4 percent said they are Jewish, 4 percent said they follow an Eastern religion and 24 percent said they are atheist.

The U.S. figures were based on a random sample of 1,003 adults collected by The Barna Group, a Christian community research firm based in Ventura, Calif.