Those without religious affiliation aren't necessarily rejecting God

[rug]

By PHILIP CLAYTON

Los Angeles Times

"The Rise of the Nones" is one of 10 trends changing American life, according to Time magazine's March 12 cover story. That's because the "nones" - those who mark "none" on surveys that ask them to identify their religious affiliation - are the fastest-growing religious group in the United States.

Not surprisingly, the increase in the unaffiliated comes at the expense of America's mainstream religions, which means that Christianity is taking the biggest hit. Mainstream Protestant churches have lost more than a third of their members since 1960. Evangelical churches are also feeling the pinch; Southern Baptists are hurting. Various surveys illuminate this trend: About 75 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 now consider themselves "spiritual but not religious." Furthermore, all traditional forms of Christian practice have sharply declined from previous decades (including church attendance, Bible study and prayer), and doubts are much sharper regarding traditional Christian beliefs.

Although a recent bumper crop of pundits likes to proclaim that we'd all be better off with no religion, I suspect that the majority of us believe that religion, in spite of its flaws, offers individuals the inspiration to be better people and to create a better nation. Seminary and church leaders, in particular, are highly motivated to staunch the decline. Unfortunately, many of them believe that what's really needed is a return to the "faith of our fathers," stricter adherence to creeds and (this is America, after all) better marketing methods.

I advocate a radically different solution: the Emerging Church. It's a movement based on understanding the reasons for mainstream religion's dramatic decline: improved scientific understanding, changing social norms, an increasingly pluralistic religious culture and more freedom to doubt and question - a freedom that until the last three centuries was mostly absent or suppressed and that is still resisted, sometimes violently, in much of the world today.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/03/28/3519281/those-without-religious-affiliation.html

ABOUT THE WRITER

Philip Clayton is the dean of Claremont School of Theology, a member of the Claremont Lincoln University consortium. His most recent book is "The Predicament of Belief: Science, Philosophy, and Faith," which he co-authored with Steven Knapp. He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.

[longship]

1. Article is correct

One of my neighbors is "unaffiliated" but he goes to a church every week. His apparent former affiliation is Seventh Day Adventist. BTW, he's one of the nicest persons I've ever met.

I suspect many professed unaffiliated are like my neighbor Bob. They are religious, they go to Christian services, have very conservative religious beliefs.

There's another demographic that may be part of the unaffiliated and that is the so-called spiritual (probably the best description) who do not call themselves non-believers.

So I am uncomfortable with some atheist claims that these unaffiliated are non-believers.

Thx for this post, rug

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Those with religious affiliations are not necessarily accepting God.

Unitarians, for example.

And a whole lot of "modernist" mainline Prods.

[cbayer]

3. Fastest rising demographic when people are asked about religious affiliation.

Many who consider themselves spiritual or theistic have left their churches, but they haven't left their beliefs.

I think we will see a spike in churches that embrace differences and are less dogmatic. This, imo, is very good news, because it will take some coalitions to unseat the religious right.

Great article.

[LeftishBrit]

4. True, but so is the reverse

There are many 'cultural Christians', 'secular Jews', etc., who identify culturally with their religion but do not have a real faith in God. This is certainly very common in the UK, where about 70% of people describe themselves as Christians, but only about 10% attend church regularly, and the proportion who claim to believe in God is anything from 35% to 60% depending on the exact question asked! There are thus quite a few nominal Christians who don't actually believe in God.