The Religious Nones

[Devils' Advocate]

This recent survey by the Pew Institute was already mentioned on the forum.
http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/

My focus for this thread is the group who say they hold no religious affiliation.

From the survey:
As the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated continue to grow, they also describe themselves in increasingly secular terms. In 2007, 25% of the “nones” called themselves atheists or agnostics; 39% identified their religion as “nothing in particular” and also said that religion is “not too” or “not at all” important in their lives; and 36% identified their religion as “nothing in particular” while nevertheless saying that religion is either “very important” or “somewhat important” in their lives.

There are many curious details about this paragraph that I'm not sure how to decipher. For instance 25% who selected 'Nones' called themselves atheists or agnostics. Surely those latter two options were available as a selection. If these people consider themselves atheist or agnostic, why didn't they choose those selections? It seems to me, if one considers oneself an agnostic or an atheist, that is what they are. Those choices are not congruent with religiously unaffiliated. Religiously unaffiliated, to me, means they believe in religion, just not one particular religion. No?

39% identified as 'nothing in particular", going on to say religion is "not too" or "not at all" important to their lives. This really should have been separate groups, as "not at all" is a quite definitive statement, whereas "not too" important is wide open to interpretation. Again the latter suggests a belief in religion, but not any particular one.

Finally the most peculiar group of all. 36% who identified their religion as "nothing in particular" while at the same time saying that religion was either "very important" or "somewhat important" in their lives.

Say Huh? What does that mean? Religion is very important to this group while at the same time they identify as "nothing in particular". If religion is very important or even somewhat important, that says to me they are religious people. Or more to the point, they have religious beliefs while at the same time they believe the religions themselves are not relevant.

My interpretation of the bottom line of all the above is that a significant percentage of the nonaffiliated are still religious people. That is they have some form of religious belief structure. If this is the case, then the conclusions drawn that secularism is on the rise at the expense of religious beliefs is wildly exaggerated.

Thoughts?

 

[Nick the Pilot]

DA,

It means that there are a lot of people out there who are very religious, but they do not belong to any religious organization, because they can't find any religious organization worth belonging to. I myself fit into this group. (I am a Theosophist, but most Theosophists say that Theosophy is not a religious organization.)

I think there are a lot of us out here in this group. If we could find a religious organization worth joining we would, we can't, and so we are religious-but-no-organization-in-particular people.

 

[EdgyDolmen]

Can't not remind me of the old quote, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." Surveys are nearly always ambiguous at best. Seems to never be enough options and nearly always too many pigeon holes.

I place little value on any one survey or on the interpretation of the survey data. Persons choosing to check "none" are undoubtedly increasing but do you suppose it may in part be attributed to refusing the pigeon hole.

 

[Devils' Advocate]

I hear you Edgy. For me, it is the group doing the survey that is first point to look at. Pew is one of the best groups. They poll a large number of people. In this instance, they did the same poll a mere seven years ago. Which shows radical changes between the current poll and the last one.

But what are the changes? That was what I was trying to get to. It could be as you suggest, that people are less likely to want to be pigeon holed these days. Or it could be as Nick said, that there is a significant increase in the number of religious people who simply cannot find a religion that suits their needs any longer.

What I am fairly sure the poll is not saying is that there are fewer people of religion than there were 7 years ago. The Religious Nones have not turned into agnostics or atheists. They are still religious.

The reason this is interesting to me is that, at least in the US, people typically voted per the convictions of their chosen religion, be it Catholic, or Protestant, or Baptist and so on. If a larger number of people are still religious but no longer follow a particular sect of Christianity, how does that affect how they vote on social issues? This is the question I am pondering.

 

[wil]

This is the segment that makes the religious cringe....

the religious nones are full of the spiritual but not religious..... while their religion...could be that of a universal love, or acceptance...of working toward knowing yourself and interacting in a certain manner...it could be belief in a higher being, but not all the dogma, tradition, pomp and circumstance, congregational whatevers or principles to be agreed on and adhered to...

These folks dance to their own drummer....not knowing there are millions of others like them they could commune with.... and they gave up trying traditional religions that they know of...

all my opinion of course....

 

[Senthil]

I like nones, although that's a generalisation. My Dad was one, I was one, those guys are all over. For the most part, great people, completely capable of thinking for themselves.