Nones

See also: nones

English

Etymology 1

From their selection of the option None or None of the above on census returns or other surveys of religious affiliation.

Alternative forms

nones

Noun

Nones pl

Those without any religious affiliation: atheists and others outside any organized religion.
- 2004, Patricia O’Connell Killen, Introduction to Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone, page 17:
  The second is the “Nones” proper, those who in response to the question “What is your religious tradition, if any?” answer “None.” Even among the “Nones” only a small minority identify as atheist or agnostic. In fact, the vast majority of “Nones” claim beliefs and attitudes more like than unlike those of persons inside churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques.
- 2006, Barry A. Kosmin et al., Religion in a Free Market, pages xvi–xvii:
  The mobility of American society has done little or nothing to erode strong regional religious cultures such as those of the Catholics of the Northeast, the Lutherans of the Upper Midwest, the Baptists of the South and the “Nones” of the Pacific Northwest.
- 2011, James D. Davidson et al., Ranking Faiths: Religious Stratification in America, page 3:
  He also found that the sons and daughters of two parents who have no religious preference (Nones) tend to become Nones.
- 2012, Joseph F. Healey, Statistics: A Tool for Social Research, 9th edition, page 242:
  Suppose that we administered a scale that measures support for capital punishment at the interval-ratio level to a randomly selected sample that includes Protestants, Catholics, Jews, people with no religious affiliation (“Nones”), and people from other religions (“Others”). […] Are Protestants significantly more supportive than Catholics or Jews? How do people with no religious affiliation compare to other people?
- 2013, J. L. Schellenberg, Evolutionary Religion, page 136:
  For example, in a 2008 report called American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion Population released by the respected ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey), one reads that “the Nones increased from 8.1 percent of the U.S. adult population in 1990 to 15 percent in 2008 and from 14 to 34 million adults. ...”
- 2013, Naomi Schaefer Riley, ‘Til Faith Do Us Part, page 122:
  People with no religious affiliation are outliers, as there is a greater frequency of divorce among Nones married to Nones than Nones married to religious people.