Editorial: Why People Don’t Have a Religion Anymore
When I grew up, everyone had a religion. They may not have been very faithful in it, but they had one.
More and more Americans, when asked their religion, reply “none.” In 2007, the “nones” were 16%, according to Pew Research. “Nones” now outnumber Roman Catholics, who are 23% of the population, and Evangelical Christians at 24%.
The so-called mainline Protestant churches—once-major denominations like Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians—have dwindled to a meager 9%.
So at 28%, those who don’t identify with any religion are the largest single group in the United States.
Pew says that these people aren’t necessarily atheists or agnostics—though most of them, 67%, are skeptical of at least some religious ideas, and 55% say they dislike religious organizations.
Almost all say they have a moral code, like being honest and helping others. They just don’t want anything to do with religion. A whopping 84% think either organized religion does more harm than good, or equal amounts of harm and good—hardly an endorsement.
Whose fault is it? It’s hard to say for sure. We live in a scientific and skeptical age. Yet it seems to me that religion hasn’t helped itself, either. While Jesus was accepting of everyone, we’re known to freeze out people we don’t understand. We tend to be skeptical of science. We use our own insider lingo, often to talk about things that don’t matter to people outside. We are at our most intense when we ask for money. And the behavior of some high-profile Christians hasn’t matched what they profess.
I have hope for spirituality—what Jesus called “the kingdom of heaven.” I have less optimism about denominational Christianity. Our denomination, for example, thinks the answer to the shrinking church is dumping a billion copies of a thick, 150-year-old anti-Catholic tome—because apparently nothing wins people to Jesus Christ like insulting other Christians.
I think I’ll take my chances with God’s plan for us, whatever that turns out to be.
Loren Seibold
Adventist Today Executive Editor
20 July 2024
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