Yet another article in USA Today about the changing face of religion in America. This data-focused article not only is claiming that religion per se is losing face with Americans but goes further and claims that spirituality isn’t cutting it either. I’ve noted that religion in the West is undergoing an evolutionary change but have believed—and still believe—that spirituality is still a strong impulse that is part of the driving force behind this change.
Not so according to some new data.
As Christmas Day glides by — all gilt, no substance — for many, clergy and religion experts are dismayed. They fear for souls’ salvation and for the common threads of faith snapping in society. Others see no such dire consequences to a more openly secular America as people not only fess up to being faithless but admit they’re skipping out on spiritual, the cool default word of the decade, as well.
The author, Cathy Lynn Grossman, labels the attitude as the “so what?” mindset and picks up on Hemant Mehta’s term “apatheists” and a label used in other articles which call this group the “Nones” (people who check “no religious identity” in surveys.
Article here.