Off Ramp Christian Soldiers

 “Nonverts – the Making of Ex-Christian America” by Stephen Bullivant, 2022

'Nonverts' should perhaps be explained – it means people converted to being 'nones' from being formerly religious or brought up in a religious home. It would be clearer written as 'None-converts' but there it is. Bullivant's contribution is showing the growth of secularism among the population - though certainly not among the power structure.  These are not kids whose parents had little to no religion, but those formerly immersed in Christian traditions – Mormonism, Protestantism, and Catholicism – who rejected them. Anyone who goes on YouTube can find people escaping various cults – Jehovah's Witnesses, Nxivm, Christian Science, Mormonism, Scientology, Haredi and Hasidic Jews, Moonies, various fundamentalist, Evangelical and Hindu cults – and now religion itself.

THE FIGURES

According to Bullivant's research in 2018 figures, 59 million U.S. citizens were 'nones' – listed as having no religion, atheists or agnostics – far larger than the fawned-over Jewish or Muslim communities. More than 70% used to be religious according to his figures, with between 20 % to 30% of the total U.S. population now a self-described 'none.' He discusses the methodology and problems of 'check-mark' religion surveys and the diversity of Nones, using a range of surveys to get a number of 23% that he is happy with. What is very clear is that this line has been steeply rising since 1992 from all religious groups, fueled by the non-belief of the young. Bullivant doesn't see this trend changing.

Why is this important? Because it connects to politics … generally the less religious a person is, the more tolerant, liberal, factual or socialistic they are.  Of course there are obnoxious atheist Libertarians, but they are a minority.  Religion has been combined with GOP politics in Christian nationalism. In the many interviews in this book, issues like gay rights, abortion, women's rights, child abuse, racism and scientific common-sense drive people away. The brutal absurdities of the Bible also play a role. According to Bullivant, 8 million African-Americans, 3 million Latinos and 1 million other ethnicities are non-religious, showing Nones spread across the population in somewhat similar proportions, not just within European-Americans. There are almost as many women as men Nones.  Bullivant has no figures on class (which is typical), but prior surveys have shown the lower your class standing, the less religion you have.

On the other hand his research and interviews show that 'cradle nones' were more likely to not believe in god than none-converts. This is an example of an aftermath of U.S. church religiosity among Nones, which he details. Some call this 'somethingism.' Residual beliefs in various magical ideas still persist – ghosts, astrology, heaven and hell, gods, etc. even among Nones. This seems to be a product of the anti-theoretical back-wash of American culture, where intellectual consistency has never been a priority. It's a sort of 'pick and choose' personal thinking instead.

THE CHURCHES

In 2018 12% of the U.S. population was Protestant, and 3% of them actually got to church! Bullivant tracks how 'mainline' Protestant church membership has collapsed as it attempted to adapt to modern times from its previous position as the dominant default. The Mormon Church, which provides an intense and all-encompassing environment for its parishioners, is also losing members. The Catholic Church, the same. Even Evangelicals like Southern Baptists are taking a hit – now called 'exVangelicals.' The extreme conservatism of Pentecostal / Evangelical churches that shunned Christmas, pushed an impossible 'purity' on teenagers and limited internet use produced a backlash according to interviewees. The claustrophobic embrace of conservative LDS Mormon's magical thinking and practice pushed others away. The hypocrisy of Catholic moralists and their backward sexual thinking and pedophilia did it for 'lapsed' Catholics.

Emptier Churches - Nuns and Nones

THE CAUSE

What caused this collapse? Bullivant's statistics and interviewees tell the story.  The rise of the Nones from 1-2% of the population started in 1968, accelerated in 1992 and is still going up. Bullivant says it is caused by a combination of things – the backward, reactionary nature of so much U.S. Christianity, especially around women and gay rights; the Catholic pedophilia scandals; the drop in the long national crusade against 'godless communism' and the rise of violent Islamic fundamentalism, which exposed the flaws of religion in a visceral way.  The repeated invasions of Gaza and encroaching settlements have not helped fundamentalist Judaism either.

Yet in his research the most important event is the existence of the internet and social media. Many young people who'd never met anyone who was agnostic or heard of atheism, scientific approaches, gay rights, women's rights or secularist and socialist ideas were suddenly able to find out about them. They discovered they were not alone, perhaps through an internet interest group. Eventually, the increase in Nones made it easier to be one. Peer and social pressure is high for most people and it had less of an effect as numbers increased.

Bullivant is a somewhat goofy, reasonable sociologist and his dated but easy to understand research indicates that the biggest indicator of religiosity among youth is the intensity of their parents commitment. This creates a reaction among youth, who have to deal with their devout parents. The real hope of religion is propagandizing and controlling the young, as elderly believers are always dying off. Given the huge number of present Nones and their future babies, religion in the U.S. will begin to look more like Europe than, lets say, India.  

Though Bullivant does not cover the growth of irreligion in other parts of the world, it is happening in diverse places like Ireland, Poland, Iran and Egypt among others. 43 out of 49 countries studied became less religious from 2007 to 2019.  The 5 increases were India, Bulgaria, Moldova, Russia, and from almost nothing, New Zealand.  The biggest collapse is in Chile, with the U.S. not far behind.

P.S. - Guardian covers closing churches  1/22/23:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/22/us-churches-closing-religion-covid-christianity

P.P.S. - Video on various people escaping 8 different religious groupings to become atheists.  Very enlightening:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKKpN4dDTHo

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 16 year archive, using these terms: “The Rise of the Nones,” “FGM,” “Abortion,” “God is Not Great” (Hitchens); “Violence” (Zizek), “Libertarian Atheism and Liberal Religionism,” “Annihilation of Caste” (Ambedkar); “Jude the Obscure” (Hardy); “Spiritual Snake Oil” "The Dark Side of Christian History,” “Islamophobia,” “The Great Evil” (Nunpa); “Godless – 150 Years of Unbelief” and “Astrology – (both by Bufe); American Theocracy” (Phillips);“The God Market,” “Religulous” (Maher); “Go Tell It On The Mountain” (Baldwin); “The Da Vinci Code” (Brown); “To Serve God and Walmart,” “Marx and Human Nature,” "The Jesus Comics."

And I got it at the Library!

Red Frog

January 19, 2023