Spiritual But Not Religious

There is the old adage that denominations survive either by procreation or conversion. Given our demographics the first is not likely to help us much.

I attended UU University in the day before General Assembly began. I thoroughly enjoyed the program and was impressed by the intelligence, commitment, and enthusiasm of my fellow UUs. However, I had one nagging thought – where were all the UUs who are in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. I have noticed in my own church that these people tend to cycle through our church fairly quickly – they come to check us out and then leave after awhile. For whatever reason, they are not finding what they are looking for. Why not? What is missing?

The report American Piety in the 21st Century: New Insights to the Depths and Complexity of Religion in the United States may shed some light on this issue. As it turns out 18.6% of people aged 18-30 have no religious affiliation. The figure for those between the ages of 31 and 44 is 11.4%. Even though these are not affiliated, 63% believe in god or a higher power. Nine out of ten of these report never having attended religious services. Only 11 percent of the religiously unaffiliated believe that Jesus was the son of God. Americans who think of God a cosmic force as opposed to an active diety comprise a remarkable 25% of the population.

To my knowledge the UU church has not done demographic studies on visitors in these age groups who visit our churches. My suspicion is that they very much fit the profiles outlined above.

It may be important that those people who are 40 or younger came of age in the aftermath of the 1960s. Many of the great political issues that defined the vast majority of our members (who came of age in the late 1950s and 1960s) were largely quiescent when these cohorts were hitting their teen years. These younger folk grew up in the ages of disco, Wall Street, Reganomics, and Bill Clinton. Those with liberal leanings seem to struggle with issues of materialism, meaning, childrearing and finding community. To the extent they have political agendas, those interests tend to focus on issues of globalization and planetary ecology rather than domestic social justice – a battle they largely (though not completely) see as a sort of mop-up operation. Religiously, it seems that this rather large cohort of people has been strongly influenced by the general dissemination through our culture of religious beliefs and practices derived from Eastern and esoteric traditions.

In short, these people (who are the very future of the UU church) may best be described by the phrase “spiritual but not religious”.

Those who cross our threshold may be looking for a place of likeminded people but they are not finding it. They would be a natural fit for our communities if only we knew what to do with them. They are also the future of our movement if it is to survive.

For a fascinating look at this demographic and what they are looking for, Robert C. Fuller's article entitled "Spiritual But Not Religious" is well worth reviewing. As Fuller notes in his article:

Forsaking formal religious organizations, these people have instead embraced an individualized spirituality that includes picking and choosing from a wide range of alternative religious philosophies. They typically view spirituality as a journey intimately linked with the pursuit of personal growth or development. A woman who joined a meditation center after going through a divorce and experiencing low self-esteem offers an excellent example. All she originally sought was a way to lose weight and get her life back on track. The Eastern religious philosophy that accompanied the meditation exercises was of little or no interest to her. Yet she received so many benefits from this initial exposure to alternative spiritual practice that she began experimenting with other systems including vegetarianism, mandalas, incense, breathing practices, and crystals. When interviewed nine years later by sociologist Marilyn McGuire, this woman reported that she was still "just beginning to grow"
and she was continuing to shop around for new spiritual insights.

McGuire found that many spiritual seekers use the "journey" image to describe a weekend workshop or retreat-the modern equivalents of religious pilgrimages. The fact that most seekers dabble or experiment rather than making once-and-forever commitments is in McGuire's opinion "particularly apt for late modern societies with their high degrees of pluralism, mobility and temporally limited social ties, communications, and voluntarism."

Finally, we also know a few things about today's unchurched seekers as a group. They are more likely than other Americans to have a college education, to belong to a white-collar profession, to be liberal in their political views, to have parents who attended church less frequently, and to be more independent in the sense of having weaker social relationships. So what do we as a church with this information.

There is a tremendous opportunity lying our doorsteps and indeed one could argue that we have a moral imperative to seek to meet the needs of this population. Can we as a church begin to address the needs of these people? Should we? Is this the future of our faith?

© 2007. Matthew W. Wesley. All rights reserved.