Sociology of Reli~m 2000, 61:2 191-207 Religious Independents Within Western Industrialized Nations: A Socio-Demographic Profile Bemadette C. Hayes* ~'s u~ ofBdfast As of yet, re/at/vdy//tt/e informar/on ex/sts w/thin Westem industrialized nations regarding reli~ous inclependents, of individuals who claim no re//gª af/i//aa'on. Th/s is part/cu/ar/~ the case cohen countries besides the United States and C ~ ate considere& Mindful of this omission, this study uses recent nationaUy relyresentative survey data to compare the reli~~us convictions and socio. de,u~at~hic background of reli~ous irdetmden~ versus relifwus affiliates in the United States and across nine Western European nations. The resuks suggest that r e / / g / o u s / n d e ~ ma:y be consi- cE, red a distinct group at least as lar as these ten Western nat/ons ate concerned. As in previous North American research, not onl?l ate reli~ous indelmdents notably more likely to eschew a reli~ous convicaon than the.ir reli~ousl~y aff'diated coUeagues, but th~ ate also significantly more likel~ to be young, male, non.married, and ~dl.educated. Of these various charaaerisacs, ho~ver, ir is differences in temas of gender tt/aich stand out as the most notable and cortsistent discriminator across nations. After years of disinterest and neglect, the nature and extent of religious non- affiliation has recently commanded the attention of both religionists and social scientists alike. This is particularly the case in North American where, since the late 1980s, a number of studies on apostasy, disaffiliation, and religious indepen- dents have all appeared in the litemture (see Glenn 1987; Hadaway 1989; Balar and Albrecht 1989; Roof and McKinney 1989; Tamney et al. 1989; Sandomirsky and Wilson 1990, 1995; Sherkat and Ellison 1991; Brinkerhoff and Mackie 1993; Roof 1994; Sherkat and Wilson 1995). Although much debate still exists as to the specific religious origins of the non-affiliated, it is now genemlly accep- ted that religious independents, of the people whom sociologists of religion have traditionally referred to as "nones," have become increasingly common within this society. Starting with the landmark investigation undertaken by Vemon ~t This articlewas written while the author ttns a visitingresearcherat the ZA-EUROLAB, at the Central Archive… Emp6ica/Soc/a/Re_w.a~, Un/vers~ o… Gdogne, Germam3. The ZA/s a Large Sca/e Fac///ry (LSF) … by the Train/ng and Mob///ry o… Reseaw.hers (TMR) Iytogramrneof the Eurol~n Union. M:y thanks to the referees and ProfessorJohn Spe.cer (Quee.' s U.iversi~ of Belfast) for theirsta~tical assista,~; ~ usualdis&imer aPt~. Dim:t aU c(rtr to 8emadette C. Hayes, De~armtent o… Sociolo~, Queen' s Universi~ of Belfast, BdfastBT7 INN, Northem l~dand, email: b.htrjes@queens.be[fast.ac.~. 191 by guest on July 22, 2011 socrel.oxfordjournals.org Downloaded from