Newport also observed that among those who do not actively participate in their religion, Catholics are the least likely to give up their affiliation and religious identity.
"Catholics – it's more of an ascribed characteristic, as I've talked about, for Catholics, than it is for Protestants," he explained, adding that Protestants switch affiliations more regularly. He speculated that among non-observant persons, "it may be easier, the hypothesis would go, for somebody who is a Protestant to change to a 'none' than a Catholic."
Smith's comments supported Newport's findings. He explained that two-thirds of everyone who was raised Catholic is still Catholic, a higher percentage than those who were raised "nones" and are still "nones."
Furthermore, while the group distancing itself from religious identity is large and continues to grow as younger generations come of age and older ones disappear, Smith explained that this trend is not "necessarily an indicator of secularization."
The "religious 'nones' are not uniformly secular, and to equate them with nonbelievers would be a real mistake," he stated.
He noted that more than 70 percent of the "nones" do not identify as atheists or agnostic, and that four in 10 "nones" reported praying at least once a month.
However, these individuals do not necessarily identify as a group searching for particular religious practices, Smith warned, cautioning pastors against thinking that the "nones" are "just searching, just waiting, just looking for the religious organization or religious community that's right for them."
At the same time, he said, this "trend toward disaffiliation could have serious consequences for religious institutions and for the way that religion is practiced in the United States," even if Americans as a whole maintain steady levels of religious practice and belief.
Adelaide Mena was the DC Correspondent for Catholic News Agency until 2017 and is a 2012 graduate of Princeton University.