One of the biggest questions in social science research stems from the following fact: Christianity is on the decline in the United States. In 2009, 77% of American adults identified as Christian as opposed to 65% today. Meanwhile, those who identify as nothing in particular (the “nones”) are on the rise, jumping from 17% to 26% over the same period according to the Pew Research Center. The numbers are staggering considering the size of the American population. A report by the CIA World Factbook indicates that, at 26%, the nones encompass 87,099,583 people, outnumbering the entire population of Germany by over 7 million. So, the question is, why are people leaving religion, and why aren’t they coming back? This question bears interest to Christians and other religious affiliates alike, as the only way to bring people back is to understand why they are leaving. The nones are defined as the group of people who identify as either atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” In other words, they are either mostly or entirely disaffiliated religiously. The group is primarily comprised of young people: 36% of people between the ages of 24 and 30 (born 1990-1996) identify as nones. Older generations are still disaffiliating but at lower rates than young people. Pew Research Center statistics suggest that 34% of older Millennials (b. 1981-1989), 23% of Gen X (b. 1965-1980), 17% of Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) and 11% of the Silent Generation (b. 1928-1945) identified as nones in 2015. According to the latest data, the numbers have only gone up since then.