(Editor’s note: This is a special edition of Bill Leonard’s biweekly column. It will return to its regular publication schedule with another edition next Thursday, Jan. 6.)
By Bill Leonard
In a new book called American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, professors Robert Putnam (Harvard) and David Campbell (Notre Dame) survey major opinion polls related to religious life in America from the 1970s to the 2000s. At the heart of their large and significant work is their reflection on these current trends:
- American evangelicals, the nation’s largest religious segment, reached their statistical peak in the 1990s at around 28 percent of the population and are currently plateaued at 24 percent. Putnam and Campbell consider evangelicals to be related primarily to non-denominational churches, noting that if they had referred only to denominational evangelicals, “Baptists and the like,” the “decline of evangelical Protestants would have been sharper.”
- Catholics, the largest single religious tradition in the United States, represent some 20 percent of the population, but the Anglo element of that community shows dramatic decline. Attendance at weekly Mass has dropped significantly in the last 5-8 years.
- “Nones,” those who claim no religious affiliation or participation, are now the third-largest segment of the population, up from 7 percent a few years ago to around 17 percent in the latest polls.
- Mainline Protestant denominations continue to decline, now representing 13 percent of the population.
The “nones,” long present in American religious life, appear to be upping their profile. Some consider themselves “spiritual” non-participants, “believers but not belongers,” while others indicate that religion is simply not on their radar. Others have walked away from previous religious involvement even as they remain on the membership rolls of churches or other faith-based groups.
The extensive data from American Grace illustrate what many church leaders across the theological spectrum already knew: A growing number of Americans have disengaged altogether from connections to any religious community.
What might this mean?
For starters, “nones” are nothing new. Historians have long reminded Americans that there were “nones” on the Mayflower, artisans who came to the new world for economic, not religious reasons. Revivalists from the First Great Awakening to the 21st century labeled them “infidels” (Thomas Paine was one of the most famous colonials in that category), “barbarians” (frontier preachers feared they would take the West by storm), and the “lost,” whom Christians were/are mandated to “win” to faith in Christ.
The “nones” have been here all along, but recent statistics suggest a rapid increase in those willing to acknowledge their non-religious identity. If this trend continues, surely all religious groups will feel the impact, regardless of their theology and history. While interest in religion or spirituality remains statistically strong and somewhat culturally powerful, religious organizations certainly face an increasingly unstable future when it comes to attracting and retaining members.
What are some current responses to this phenomenon among Christians?
Some insist that this is the statistical verification of what the church has known for centuries: Sinful human beings will run from grace every chance they get. The new polls reveal that the veneer of religiosity in America has finally broken down and the church should reaffirm its calling as a hospice for sinners.
Some suggest that declines offer further evidence of the corruption of an American society where secularism is normative, traditional values are murky or disappearing and religion is ignored or ridiculed in the public square. Churches should reassert certain moral imperatives (specifics vary among communions) and act prophetically in the culture.
Others see the rise of the “nones” as a result of the church’s failure to sustain its evangelistic task of aggressively declaring the gospel. Churches should retell the “old, old story” with greater determination, even as they differ on the methods for doing so.
Still others insist that many people are leaving religion behind because of the actions and behavior of religious institutions and individuals who: 1) No longer live up to their traditional religious values. 2) Engage in myopic religious debates that distract them from pressing social and spiritual disorders. 3) Treat specific individuals or families in ways that foster hurt and disillusionment. 4) Are trapped in a survival mode that saps creative and redemptive energy. 5) All of the above. 6) None of the above.
Given those varying diagnoses, what questions might the rise of the “nones” force churches to ask? Here are a few:
- What is our most essential calling and how do we actualize it in our community?
- What does it mean to turn from self-preservation to self-sacrifice as a community of faith?
- What are the most pressing needs around us and how do we address them even if some people choose not to join us in that response?
- Does our witness in a given community foster energy for or indifference to the dynamics of the gospel?
The “nones” are out there, apparently in growing numbers, voting with their feet if not their voices. Are we listening?