Sometimes when you fill out a form, you are tempted to check the box that says “None of the above.” More and more Americans are checking that box when asked about their religious affiliation.

In the 1950s, around three percent checked the “none” box when asked about religion. Today that number has grown to 20 percent. The Pew Research Center reports that the percentage of nones is growing rapidly, especially among the young. A third of adults under age 30 are religious unaffiliated. This is the highest percentages the Pew Center has ever polled.

The nones include two groups. There are the 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, who are nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population. Then there are the nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation, accounting for 14 percent of the population.

The rise of the nones is one major reason for the current conflicts over religious liberty. The number of people who go to church has remained constant over the last few decades while the percentage of nones is increasing. These two groups have strikingly different views about the place of religion in public life. One group talks about freedom of religion while the other group talks about freedom from religion. Conflicts over public displays of religion (crosses, Ten Commandments) and public expressions of religion (public prayers, biblical references in speeches) are inevitable.

The conflict is accentuated because a higher percentage of nones can be found in the media. News reporters are less likely to report religious people and their ideas correctly. Hollywood producers are more likely to cast religious people in a negative light. Christians, therefore, often feel that are not represented accurately in the media.

The division between those with religious commitments and the nones also surfaces in politics. A recent Pew study found that the nones are the single most ideologically committed group. The only other group as committed is Evangelical Protestants.

The nones have changed the cultural and political landscape.