Study: Internet Use Keeping People Out of Church

Fewer Americans are going to church than ever, and one reason may be because they’re too busy logging onto the Internet, a new research study shows.

According to Allen Downey, a professor of computer science at the Olin College of Engineering in Massachusetts, the number of people saying they have no religious affiliation grew from 8 percent to 18 percent, reports The Huffington Post. Meanwhile, the number of Americans going online rose from almost nobody up to 80 percent.

But Downey said just because there is a correlation between the numbers doesn’t mean the Internet is killing organized religion.

“We can’t know for sure that Internet use causes religious disaffiliation,” he said. “It is always possible that disaffiliation causes Internet use, or that a third factor causes both.”

Downey’s online paper, “Religious Affiliation, Education and Internet Use,” shows that people who used the Internet just a few times a week were less likely to claim a religious affiliation than those who use no Internet, and people using the Internet more than seven hours a week were even less likely to claim a religion. Full Article.