Racialized Secularization Life‐Course Trajectories and the Divergent Meaning of Religious Non‐Affiliation Among Black and White Americans

The rapid growth of religious non‐affiliation in the United States has become a central indicator of contemporary secularization. Although previous research recognizes that religious non‐affiliation is heterogeneous, relatively little is known about whether its life‐course trajectories and social meaning differ across racial groups. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study examines whether black and white Americans follow similar pathways into and through religious non‐affiliation and whether non‐affiliation carries similar behavioral and ideological meanings across racial groups. Results show that while non‐affiliation increases steadily across adulthood among white respondents, this pattern is weaker and partially reverses among black respondents, who are more likely to return to religious affiliation over time. Among respondents identifying as religiously unaffiliated, black Americans also maintain significantly higher levels of religious attendance than white nones, despite exhibiting similar political ideology. These findings are consistent with the argument that religious non‐affiliation reflects different forms of institutional centrality across racial contexts rather than a common process of religious disengagement. More broadly, the study extends research on secularization by demonstrating that the life‐course trajectories and social consequences of religious non‐affiliation are shaped by race and the differing institutional roles that religious organizations occupy in American communities.