The rise of religious ‘nones’, has been trending over the past several years. University of Tampa Sociology professor Ryan Cragun has uncovered surprising research about why people are leaving organized religion.
“The massive rise of the non-religious, is largely because people were already not particularly religious, but they were hiding it during the Cold War, and with the end of the Cold War. Now you can be open about your non religion, and people aren't going to assume that you're not loyal”.
During the 1950’s, the U.S. wanted to distinguish itself from an atheist Soviet Union by emphasizing American religious values. This included adding "In God We Trust" to currency and mandating “one nation under God” to the pledge of allegiance.
Politics aside, morality plays a huge role in this conversation, or does it? Cragan argues that there are several misconceptions about the nones beliefs.
“If we can conclude that criminality is a manifestation of morality, then we should be able to look at the religious affiliations of prison inmates and get a pretty good sense of whether non-religious people are less moral than religious people. And it turns out, atheists are dramatically underrepresented in prisons. We don't even say, 'atheists are more moral,' right? We're just like, there's no difference here.”
This begs the question: are there any differences between religious and non-religious groups?
“Nothing pops out in the data. With one exception, non-religious people have fewer kids.”
Cragun shares how the church is grappling with this mass exodus.
“Thousands of churches are closing down every year in the U.S. That's despite the fact that our U.S. population is growing. There's just not enough demand, so churches are shutting down.”
As fewer people attend church, the rising question for religious leaders will be: how to adapt to a society where the concept of belief—and community—may become 'none' of what it used to be?
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