There’s good news under this sad news, I’m telling ya’.
CNA: Religiously unaffiliated people, often referred to as “nones,” now make up the largest religious category in the U.S., according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.
Pew’s new report, released Jan. 24, shows that nones now account for 28% of the total U.S. population, outstripping the next largest group, Catholics, who make up 20%.
The recent data is consistent with a long-term trend of Americans rejecting religious affiliation in growing numbers, with the percentage nearly doubling from 16% in 2007.
The rise of the nones has resulted in not only lessened religious participation but also a decrease in civic engagement with nones being less likely to vote, do volunteer work, or have strong friend groups or community, according to Pew.
Sooooooo, we’re talking about people who live their lives something like this:
But there is good news here. Only 17% of “nones” identify as atheist. That’s interesting because you might recall the great Atheist push from a decade ago. Dawkins, Harris, Hitchens and their unholy posse mocked and jeered Christians for believing in a fairy tale. Remember that? The media loved their whole flying spaghetti monster, Daddy in the sky act. All of their books and lectures were covered extensively and adoringly. We were told that the great atheit wave was coming and would wipe out Christianity.
So, what happened? It didn’t.
The great atheist wave of 2000 broke, ebbed, and disappeared. They succeeded in mocking the Church and villainizing it at every turn with the help of the media. The Church, in many ways, did not cover itself in glory at that time either with the sex abuse scandal. So yes, many people are rejecting the institutional Church but they’re also rejecting atheism. They’re rejecting the flat materialistic view of the universe. They still know there is something more to the world than what we can see or measure.
One of the great attributes of the Enlightenment is that it sought to create verifiable science but measuring reality. The problem it runs into is that anything outside of the measurable is just said not to exist. This is, of course, absurd. It seeks to define “love” as an evolutionary benefit of seeking safety in a group against predators. We know it’s more than that. That’s a shallow, ridiculous explanation and it has been widely rejected.
That’s the good news. But now these folks, especially young people are rejecting the institutional Church but also rejecting materialism. Where are they going?
Many are opting for “wokeness” which essentially twists Christian precepts of tolerance, love, and acceptance into affirmations of sin. It is a moral high ground without morality.
When many of these “nones” no longer have the Church to guide them, they become their own arbiters of right and wrong. It is essentially the ultimate end of the Reformation in many ways. Many others are choosing pagan, occult, New Age, and Wiccan practices because they know the world is a weird and enchanted place and they’ve been raised in a time when the Church has been maligned as a stale old institution Church run by out of touch old men who hate women.
I’ve always wondered how Catholics are accused of being anti-women while also being accused of worshipping Mary but I digress.
I think one of the major missteps of some in the Church over the past few decades is they’ve flattened out the weirdness of the faith. They dimmed its enchanted view of the world. Catholicism is the greatest story in the world and we’re not sharing it. Jesus Christ died on the cross, resurrected, and founded a Church. In every tabernacle in every part of the world, Christ lives. Not a symbol, but Christ Himself. We have martyrs, guardian angels, demons prowling about the world in search of your soul. We have grace, miracles, and extraordinary acts of love.
The great Atheist push died. The nones need saving. We have just the Church to do it. Let’s get busy.
January 26, 2024 at 9:57 am
Reflecting on Judges 21:25 ” In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes,” and considering history is just as much cyclical as it is linear, we hear its echo:
“Today, I am king and I expect others to affirm what I decide is right based on my truth”
January 26, 2024 at 2:49 pm
Yes – as you say, let’s get busy!!!
My parish is home to the Newman Center of the University of Akron in Ohio. We have a sister parish nearby, and both parishes are on the small side for our part of the country – maybe 900 families total.
Our pastor is the chaplain of the Newman Center, and he was only 35 when he came to us 5 years ago. In that time, between our parishes, there is one young man from my parish in priestly formation at the Benedictine monastery in Oklahoma, one young man from our sister parish entered the Diocesan seminary last August, two Newman Center men who recently graduated UA will be entering the Diocesan seminary this coming August, one young lady from the Newman Center has taken her first vows with the Mercedarians, and one young lady of my parish has solemnly professed as a Nashville Dominican. And the son of current parishioners of our sister parish has retired from the Air Force and has just entered formation for the Diaconate for the Archdiocese of the Military this past month.
Two teenaged altar servers, brothers, asked Father to accompany them and their parents to the seminary for a visit and to meet the Bishop this past summer because they are giving serious thought to the priesthood.
This is after a vocations drought of several decades for both parishes.
Our parishes do not have an overabundance of young people, but we do cherish them and welcome them to help at Mass and at the parishes in various ways.
The Newman Center is led well and faithfully by a representative of the Diocese of Cleveland. And we also have the blessing of FOCUS missionaries, who are doing a fantastic job evangelizing on campus and at the parish and stepping up to assist in a variety of ways.
In gratitude, before every Mass at both parishes we pray a Memorare for the spiritual and physical health and protection of the Pope, our local Bishops, our parish priests, our seminarians, and the young people of the parish who may have religious vocations.
I am sorry to ramble on, but in spite of the disheartening news in this article, all is not lost. God has not abandoned us and never will. Speaking for myself, I think the upcoming generation is searching for faithfulness and want to be good Catholics and to do it right. And I think/hope/pray we will be in very good and faithful hands when they are leading the Church someday.
I agree we must get busy – now – by praying and encouraging our fellow parishioners, including the young people of the parish. I schedule the liturgical ministers at the Sunday night Mass that many of the university students attend. When we need help serving, reading, ushering, taking down Christmas decorations, helping to feed the poor, or anything else that needs done, they never say no and want to be included in parish life. Let’s keep them busy, too, and let them know we need them as part of our parish family. Change for the better starts with us, at home in our parishes.
God bless and protect all here!