Search Results

This introduction describes the book’s fashion-focused approach to religion and its central argument. It sets up the concept of fashionable religion, which highlights how fashion constructs a specific vision of Christianity that celebrates beauty and wonder, innovation and enchantment. To establish this, the introduction provides an overview of the book’s primary sources and identifies how the book’s approach differs from existing scholarship on religion and dress. Rather than focusing on what religions do with or say about dress, the introduction highlights the importance of the fashion industry for thinking about the changing religious landscape of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including the rise of spirituality and the increase in the religiously unaffiliated or “nones.”

Changes in religious demography have reshaped American political discourse in the early twenty-first century, as the public statements of Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump attest. The rise of the religiously unaffiliated “nones,” the return of “atheist” as an acceptable self-descriptor, a growing belief in the validity of multiple faiths, and the increasingly common experiences of religious mobility, intermarriage, and hybridity have all profoundly altered the religious and political landscapes, despite the Christian right’s continued power. Obama, who embodied the tendency toward religious hybridity, marked such changes by eschewing even the broad term “multireligious” and instead listing numerous belief communities by name, including atheists. Trump, however, departed even more substantially from past patterns. Despite championing the social and political interests of the Christian right, he abandoned both the customary expressions of personal piety and the hitherto unbroken tradition of defining the United States as the embodiment of a set of ideals, whether universal or particular. The book closes by reflecting on the possible futures of the Judeo-Christian and Abrahamic frameworks, the interpretive shortcomings of the culture wars concept, and the power of religious language in American politics.

This introduction charts out the rising rates of religious nones in the United States and Canada, including in several subregions within each nation. Attention is given to the reasons religious nones have grown, as well as to the demographic composition among current religious nones. This chapter then frames the entire project against the backdrop of three theoretical frameworks used in the sociology of religion and religious studies: stages of decline, individualization and spiritualization, and polarization. The chapter concludes with an overview of the remaining sections in the book.

This chapter investigates the biographic pathways that lead people to say they have no religion. It shows that religious nones have historically grown among those raised within a religious tradition who for various reasons outlined in this chapter decided to disaffiliate. As these religious nones have children, there are growing signs that irreligious socialization helps to explain the rise of religious nones in the United States and Canada especially. This chapter also deals with the influence of growing up and living in more secular social environments, before exploring the demographic factors affecting the size of the religious none population moving forward.

This material examines the different ways that the affiliated and unaffiliated talk about, define, and measure morality. Analysis and discussion centers on the ways that the actively religious, marginally religious, and the five subtypes of religious nones view a wide range of social and political issues, including abortion, same-sex marriage, women in the workforce, environmental laws and spending, government aid to the disadvantaged, and immigration. This chapter builds on the regional analysis throughout the book, demonstrating where and why some pockets of the population—affiliated and unaffiliated—seem to be more liberal or conservative on different social and political issues.

This chapter deals with political and civic engagement, once more comparing the actively religious, marginally religious, and unaffiliated. In terms of political engagement, the focus is on the many ways individuals are or are not politically active, including who they vote for. Discussion is similarly given to volunteering and charitable giving habits, such as if people volunteer or donate money (or not), how frequently and where they volunteer or give, and motivations for volunteering and giving. The chapter concludes with some possible social and civic implications on the horizon for those in the United States and Canada, should religious nones continue to hold a sizeable proportion of the population.

The introduction presents the case of a single mobile Jew with eclectic religious practices, Edward Rosewater, arguing that he is a compelling if unexpected starting point from which to redescribe religion in America. Building on religious studies methodologies developed in the American Catholic context, this book helps explain American religious eclecticism. As with contemporary “nones,” for nineteenth-century Americans like Rosewater, congregations, denominations, and stable identities were not obvious or inevitable. Rather, they were particular strategies—among many others—for coping with life amidst the individuating forces of American law, economics, and racial logics. While some Jews believed that Judaism was already suitable for all locales, most Jews recognized that they would have to reconcile Judaism with this new context, whether through individual adaptations like those of Rosewater or through the national projects proposed by famous leaders Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise and Isaac Leeser.

The fastest-growing religious category in America is comprised of the not religious: atheists, agnostics, those who are religiously unaffiliated or uninterested, and those who call themselves “spiritual but not religious.” Previous research suggested that a majority of these come from a religious background but have rejected their parents’ faith. In this study, however, by 2005 it was far more common to see a high degree of intergenerational similarity with nonreligious children following in the path of their nonreligious parents. Such parent–child similarity increased markedly over the thirty-five years of the study: In 1970 only one in seven young adult nones had parents who also were nonaffiliated; by 2005 this had increased to six in ten youth.

Lapsed Catholics are sometimes referred to as one of the largest religious groups in America, and yet we know little about what beliefs and behaviors may be associated with this social category. Using data from the Pew Religious Landscape Survey, this chapter compares the religious beliefs, social attitudes, and voluntary behavior of lapsed Catholics and other religious non-affiliates (nones, atheists, and agnostics) alongside lapsed evangelicals and lapsed mainline Protestants. Generally speaking, lapsed Catholics fall somewhere in the middle between practicing Catholics and those with no religious affiliation, but they are notably more liberal in their attitudes toward abortion and same-sex marriage. This study affirms the importance of considering the heterogeneity within the category of “nonreligious” by considering the lingering attachments people may hold to religion outside of church attendance. The chapter concludes by considering whether the glass is half full or half empty for those interested in the future of American Catholicism.

The purpose of this study was to examine the types, meanings, and benefits of spiritual practices among older adults and to discuss their implications for well-being. In-depth interviews were conducted with 122 individuals, with an average age of 77. Of these, 102 were highly involved in churches or synagogues, and 20 were atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, or religiously indifferent. The chapter’s authors found a wide array of activities identified by respondents as spiritual practices, ranging from the anticipated (prayer, participating in corporate worship, reading) to the more novel (attending long-distance Bible study groups via Skype, watercolor painting). They also found an overlap between the religious and the nonreligious older adults in many spiritual practices. Most respondents reported that their spiritual practices had increased with age. Respondents perceived significant benefits from their spiritual practices. Too often, health practitioners have not been sensitive to the benefits of spiritual practices in the lives of older adults.

The dramatic rise in the number of religiously unaffiliated, who nevertheless claim to be “spiritual but not religious,” suggests the need to rethink the categories of spirituality and religion. Although more a rhetorical device than true divorce, this important shift demands the study of the beliefs of “nones.” The “why” of this and the interview process are explained. The book asks whether this is a spiritual crisis or revolution, and whether the situation is really spirituality versus religion. It also explains why the study of belief, although often neglected by the social sciences, is critical. The interview process and the interviewees are discussed, showing that qualitative research is an appropriate method to elicit SBNR beliefs. A main contention is that SBNRs need to be heard in their own voices.

Whether aberration or heritage, the surge in organized religion during the 1950s and early 1960s still functions as the “gold standard” for many today, especially Protestants and Catholics. Athough there was still a common meta-narrative that many shared, giving stability to public and private life, it was soon to disintegrate. This seemingly idyllic picture also contained problems, which are discussed. The dramatic change in the ensuing years, especially during the later 1960s and beyond, as well as the parallel rise in conservative evangelicals and “nones” during the 1990s, is explored. The chapter refers to Robert Putnam’s work on the cultural shocks that promoted this change. It also discusses the rise in those disaffiliated and non-affiliated from religion. It looks more closely at the specifics about the “nones” and those who describe themselves “spiritual but not religious.”

The interviewees are categorized according to age cohorts and types. Although there were few “nones” who volunteered to be interviewed from “The Greatest Generation” (1901?1924), there were many women and men who came forward from “The Silent Generation” (1925?1945), “The Baby Boomers” (1946?1964), “Gen X” (1965?1981), and “Millennials” (born after 1981). The most enthusiastic interviewees were Baby Boomers and women. Cutting across the generations were five distinct types: Dissenters (those who object to specific doctrines or practices in religion and have either left or drifted away), Casuals (those who take spirituality and religion on an “as-needed” basis), Explorers (those who have a spiritual “wanderlust,” like spiritual tourists), Seekers (those who are looking for a more or less permanent spiritual home), and Immigrants (those who are trying out a new religion or spirituality but, like immigrants, may be having difficulty adjusting). Examples and many illustrative quotes from each generation and type are given.

There is no simple explanation for why the people in this book have felt compelled to minimize the importance of organized religion. Among the many reasons, however, prior research has given inadequate consideration to the belief factor. This book suggests the need for more awareness of the theological issues that are playing into the decrease in religious affiliation. Although there is diversity in the beliefs these interviewees hold, an underlying consensus appears to be developing and this bears further attention. There are important theological and practical implications that could spring from this developing ethos. The chapter suggests some possible outcomes and potential problems that could emerge which are especially relevant to four audiences: the “nones” who are “spiritual but not religious,” American society in general, American religion, and the church.