One in four Americans identify as Nones. Why are millions leaving organized religion? – NorthJersey.com

They are ex-missionaries and military pilots, yoga instructors and computer programmers, mothers, fathers, professors and political activists.

Some left religion on a rocky, anguished path, stung by abuse or shunned by family. Others came to the realization slowly, after a lifetime of questions they couldn't shake.

Jay Brown was the missionary. Raised in small-town Iowa, he traveled the world spreading the Lord's Gospel until two years ago, when he realized he was an atheist.

The epiphany almosttore apart his marriage, but the family has persevered. Now, Brown says, he finds meaning in being a good father and husbandand helping others.

Zalman Newfield, a sociology professorfrom Hoboken, New Jersey, left his ultra-Orthodox Jewish upbringing years ago but still holds tight to the traditions of his childhood. Each week, he gathers his two young daughters to study the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

They are two travelers among many in one ofthe fastest-growing movements in America: the"Nones"people whose relationship with institutionalized religion can best be described as"none" or "nothing."

In a country founded on tales of devout worshippers willing to risk everythingfor religious freedom, from Puritans toQuakers to Mormons, surveys say the Nones (pronounced, ironically, "nuns") now accountfor about one in every four Americans. It'sa sea change set to transformthe country's religion, culture and politics.

Just as interesting as the exodus is what's replacing organized religion in people's lives: a more personal, often hard-to-define spirituality and search for meaning. That can manifest as a devotion to nature, meditation, yoga or political activism, among other things.

While atheism is growing in America, many of the Nones tell pollsters they still believe in a higher power, or even the Biblical God but on their own terms, not those of a preacher, rabbi or imam.

Ryan Burge, aSouthern Baptist minister, began pastoring a small church in Mount Vernon, Illinois, in 2006 while he was completing his graduate studiesin political science. Within adecade, he said, "my church went from having about 50 people in the pews to just over 20. What was happening in American religion was also happeningrightin front of me."

Within 10 years, the number of people in the U.S.whoaffiliate with no particular faithwill be larger than any individual religious denomination, predicts Burge, nowapolitical science professor at Eastern Illinois University. His book,"The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going," was published in March.

As many as 70million American adults now identify as Nones, he said.Their numbers rose steadily from the 1970s onward and then accelerated in the new century, leaping from 17% of the populationin 2009 to26% in 2019, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

In recentyears, one study after anotherhas sought to decipher their motivations and movements.

In late March, aGallup poll found that 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a houseof worship,the first time that group accounted for less thanhalf of thepopulation since the pollster began asking the questionnearly a century ago.

The Nones are largely a youth movement. A landmark survey of a half-million Americans released in Julyfound just over a third of adultsunder 30 were unaffiliated. In 1986, it was just 10%,according to the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute.

Raised in a culture where they were urged to think creatively and "outside the box," today's youth are reinventing religious practices to accommodatetheir own lifestyles. Many optto be spiritually connected in a way that feels authentic to them but would likelyseem strange or heretical to their Bible-toting ancestors.

Nonesoften striveto find spirituality from within, be it through meditation, yoga or gatherings with communities of friends. They insist on forging their own journeys in a way that feels genuine to their souls.

"What we find are young people who are trying to figure out how to put the pieces together to create a flourishingspiritual life from a variety of sources," said Josh Packard, a sociologist and author of "The Emerging Church: Religion at the Margins."

"Many are turning to nature, online communities, meditationand other spiritual practices," said Packard, who is also executive director of the Springtide Research Institute inMinnesota, which studies the faith of young people.

"However we still see relatively high rates of prayer."

Some find their way to places likeOne Yoga & Wellness Centerin Hightstown, New Jersey,where Tracey Ulshafer, a master yoga teacher and interfaith minister, helps students find "a connection through body, mind and spirit."

Interest has been on the rise, said Ulshafer.Those who come for physical benefitsoften find a deeper transformation, she added.

Finding spirituality through yoga

"Yoga is a science of self-realization," Ulshafer said."When you are performing the poses, you are meditating. I bring a lot of spirituality to my classes. Spirituality is a calling in everyone, whether it's conscious or not. We are all divine beings, and we need to seek that out. You have to feel it for yourself."

Spirituality a "connection to a power greater than yourself"hasbecome the substitute for religion, said Linda Mercadante, an emeritus researchprofessor at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio and author of "Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious."

"Americahasa longreligious heritage, so it won't be thrown out soon. Instead, it will be replaced by a more vague spirituality," she said. "A lot of people won't say the word 'God' because that'snot popular. But they will say 'universe.' "

There's no one explanation for why people are fleeing organized faith. The Nones themselves offera myriad of reasons, including abusive experiences with religiouscommunities, doubts aboutdoctrine, disagreements with church leadersor the rigorous demands ofa devout lifestyle.

It's more socially acceptable today to identify as a None, sociologists note. Thegrowth of social media has made people less community-focused but more likely to find compatriots with shared interests. Others say a trend toward delaying marriage and having children has decreaseddevotion to organized religion.

While many people want to believe in something greater than themselves, they don't want to be tied down to an institutional approach, said Charles Zech, professor emeritusof churchmanagement at Villanova University, outside Philadelphia.

"They want to relate to God in the way that they want, not by followinga church's rules," he said.

What's striking is not the lack of belief in organized religion, but that so manycontinue to yearn for a connection outside of traditional methods of worship. While many have left churches, temples and mosques, they haven't abandoned spiritual life altogether.

"Many people in my classessayto me, `This is my temple, or my spiritual home,' " said Charlotte Chandler Stone, a yoga therapist and director at Stone Yoga in Teaneck, New Jersey. "They say they get more from yoga than sitting in a church pew saying prayers that theydon't believe in. It helps them to get in touch with themselves and understand their purpose on Earth."

Muhammad Syed of Washington, D.C., says he's found that purpose in helping others. The 42-year-old leftIslam in his 20s and became an atheist, shortly after emigrating to the U.S. from Pakistan. In 2013, he formed Ex-Muslims of North America,a nonprofit dedicated to helping othersleave thefaith.

"I don't believe one needs to have faith to be spiritual," he said. "I love nature. I love staring at the night sky. I find looking at the Milky Waya very spiritual experience. We can find meaning outsideof faith."

The coronavirus pandemic may have accelerated thetrend, experts say, although there'snohard data yet to back up thattheory.

"People haven't been able to show up to church in person for much of the pandemic,"said Mercadante."While many have attended virtually, for othersthe habit of church has been broken."

Although a 2020 Pew study found that28% of Americans reported thattheir faith was strengthened bythe health crisis, most of the subjectsinterviewed were already religiously connected.

Although the number of Republican Nones has also been rising, those shifting away from organized faithtend to be liberal and more heavily Democratic, say experts.

Their increase, along with growth in some right-wing religious groups, islikely to result in a further polarization of a country already divided along political and cultural fault lines, some scientists predict.

"You will have people who are either very religious or not religious at all," said Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, a professor specializing in Jewish law andculture at DePaul Universityin Chicagoand author of "Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World."

"It follows into social issues as well:Nones tend to support gay rights and abortion rights."

America has become less religious, and "the Nones are the best indicator of that," said John C. Green, a political scientist who has studied the impact of religion on politics. That may portend a decline in civic and political engagement by individual Americans, continuing a trend of withdrawing from public life.

A lack of religious affiliation "also seems to be an indicator on their involvement in civic activities," said Green, who teachesat the University of Akron in Ohio. "While religious people are champions at being involved in clubs and organizations, non-religious people don't volunteer or belong to organizations, even things like the PTA."

As older, more religious generations are replaced by younger ones, the U.S.could eventually look as secularized as Europe, with Nones dwarfing any singlereligious group, he said.

Yet the rise of the Nones could have positive impacts, ensuring that religion is "neither regulated nor prohibited by government," said Mercadante. "They are implementing better boundaries between church and state. They are also inserting spirituality into everyday life."

The Nones represent "an entirely new way of thinking about American social society," said Burge, the Illinois pastor and researcher. They will "create organizations and institutionswe've never seen or consideredbefore," he predicted. "There are already atheist groups forming to engage in social services in their local community, and I think this is just the beginning."

Though the pews are getting emptierat houses of worship, religion won't become obsolete.

The search for meaning is a universal and eternal questamong human beings. In a2017 Pew Research Center survey,90% of respondents said they still believein some kind of higher power, with 56% professingfaith in God as describedin the Bible.

Sixty percentof unaffiliated young people called themselves "at least slightly spiritual" in a2020 study by Springtide Research.

NorthJersey.com and the USA Today Network New Jerseyspent months chronicling the complex stories of those who have left organized religionto try to understand who they are,the forcesthat drive themand what it means to be spiritual in a highly secular world.

One thing is certain: We need to get used to the Nonesand their practices. They are not going anywhere, and some believe that in the coming years they may even dominate theculturallandscape.

Email:yellin@northjersey.com

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One in four Americans identify as Nones. Why are millions leaving organized religion? - NorthJersey.com