Churchless: Beyond nuns and nones

Unchurched?   (Painting by Carl Bloch)

Just as attending church is not necessarily indicative of religious fervor, avoiding church is not necessarily indicative of religious antipathy.

Cathy Lynn Grossman of RNS reports on the findings of religion researcher David Kinnamon.  Kinnamon considers the “nones,” the “skeptics,” the “post-

churched,” the "unchurched" and the “never churched” to all be part of one big category that he labels “unchurched.”

According to Kinnamon, those who are collectively unchurched make up a whopping 38 percent of Americans.  Although some might check “Christian”

out of habit on a survey, many haven’t “darkened the door of a church in years.”

There is no one profile for the unchurched.  Some are outright atheists, while others are “spiritual but not religious.”  Some strongly identify with the teachings of Christ, but not with church attendance. Many adhere to religions other than Christianity.

Kinnamon concluded:  The younger the generation, the more post-Christian it is.   

Resources

http://wwrn.org/articles/43562/?&place=north-america

Copyright November 6, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved