recorded at the same time the number of people unaffiliated secular or ignostic is shooting up sharply. in the sense of trends well, it looks like christianity is on the decline in the u.s. particularly something called the religious middle. joining me now to discuss this reverend dr. jackie lewis here in new york city michael hout professor of sociology at new york university who studies the changing perceptions of religion in this country. great to have you both here. so fascinating stuff here. between 2000 and 2014 a decline in catholics and main line protestants, right? we see a significant increase from 16.1 to 22.8% unaffiliated. this is a fairly seismic shift when you're talking about a period of just seven years in terms of the religious composition of the left.