The Top 10 Everything of 2009

Secular fundamentalists like Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens are half right: more Americans than ever are leaving church. But those Americans are also going back to church or changing churches if the first few they try don't quite work. An April report from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 44% of adults in the U.S. have changed faiths at least once. Some converted from one religion or denomination to another; others grew up with no tradition only to adopt one as an adult; still others left their childhood faith and found themselves with no religious home. More than anything, the findings confirm that a stubborn, insistent strain of religiosity continues to linger in Americans — even those who claim they've left organized religion behind.