New Poll on Religions: Atheism Up in US

• Seven years ago, 73% of Americans identified as religious
• That figure is now down to 60%. 
• The proportion of the US calling itself atheist has grown from 1% to 5%
• Experts have an idea why: The year the poll was last taken, 2005, marked the beginning of a string of bestselling publications on atheism by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris.
• China has the highest proportion of "convinced atheists": 47%.
• The most religious countries include Ghana, Brazil, and Macedonia.
• Poland, Moldova, and Saudi Arabia are similar to the US in their percentages of atheists.