Spiritual, But Not Religious: Comparing Europe and the U.S.

It is commonly thought that Europeans are godless. In fact, as Grace Davie and Andrew Greeley in independent work have confirmed, more than half of Europeans believe in God, but they do not belong to any religious denomination. Davie calls this “believing without belonging.” We might call it “spiritual, but not religious.”

As I discussed yesterday a rising percentage of Americans belong to no religious denomination. Many might assume that these American are atheists or agnostics, but as Putnam and Campbell argue in American Grace, a very small percentage of this group fall in the category of atheists or agnostics. They are classic believers who do not belong.

Most interesting, at least to me, is that the principal cause of joining this group is political. Jose Casanova has argued that a principal cause of Catholics leaving the Church in Europe was its tight connections with corrupt dictators and kings. There is an irony here. The Church often maintained these connections in order to receive privileges to aid its evangelization. But doing so had huge anti-evangelical effects. Of course, sometimes it was more complicated. The Church sided with Franco in part because the socialists were killing priests (I am not sure if the Church ever considered being neutral). In any event, anticlericalism is a significant aspect of those who belong to no church in Europe.

The rising number of those who belong to no religious group in the United States is also politically motivated. According to Putnam and Campbell, it is primarily a reaction against the religious right. There is a strong tendency among young people (the largest component of this group) to associate organized religion with the religious right and a tendency to see the religious as hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic and insincere.

The sociology of religion suggests that as people grow older and have children, they turn to religion (though the Europeans do not fit that pattern). If the young turn to organized Christian religion in the U.S. when they have children, they are likely to turn to mainline Protestant churches rather than to Catholic or evangelical churches. If immigration is not considered, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has already experienced a percentage decline equivalent to that of mainline Protestants. It may not get better for the Catholic Church. Putnam and Campbell argue that churches that are distant from the political right have a recruiting opportunity with this increasingly large group. If in Europe those who do not belong are anti-clerical; in the U.S. those who do not belong are opposed to conservative views of sexuality in general, and conservative views of same sex relations in particular.  

Update: It turns out that those without a religious home tend to stay that way even after having children. Indeed, the percentage of those leaving this category is lower than any of the major religious traditions. By contrast, 60% of Anglo Catholics leave the Church entirely or are only nominal Catholics. Importantly, the retention rates for Latino Catholics is far higher, a factor that will become more and more significant in the future.

Update: 

Comments

[Jimbino]

OK Steve,

What we need here is a definition of terms. I myself (like Jesus!) have never joined any church, though I have served as youth minister in one and chaplain in a hospital. I think your "sociologists" need to be trained to ask better questions.

Here in Brazil, the RC church is dying out, thank Darwin. Alive and well are all the pentacostalist churches and those groups who practice candomble and macumba.

I'm a physicist who looks askance at anything labeled "best social scientists in the field."

[Steve Shiffrin]

Jimbino
I am reporting on the sociological data. By organized, youth are
thinking of associations that meet in the form of churches (whether
they are hierarchical or not). If you have any data to support your
claims about the facts on the ground, I would be interested in your
presenting it. In the interim, you are, of course, free to disagree,
but what I am reporting comes from the some of the best social
scientists in the field.

[Jimbino]

You say that, in the US, "There is a strong tendency among young people ... to associate organized religion with the religious right and a tendency to see the religious as hypocritical, judgmental, homophobic and insincere."

I don't agree. For starters, Baptists and Bible Churchers belong to the "religious right," but, having NO hierarchy, are totally "disorganized." That means that if a person doesn't like the preacher or the flock, he can find another church--maybe one with a woman preacher or a different emphasis, e.g., Bible, missions, local charity, political action.

It is the mainline, leftists churches that are "organized." If a person is RC, Episcopalian, Presbyterian or Lutheran, he is screwed: same policies everywhere. My dad always warned me, as a youngster, away from joining any club that charged dues and that sent a part of them "off to Washington." The mainline churches are always sending a part of your "dues" off to Washington (or to Rome)--another good reason a modern teenager shuns the mainline churches.

All the churches have leaders who are hypocritical. There is nothing wrong with being judgmental, in any case. That is the job of a church, after all. Even the Unitarians, the UC and the Quakers are judgmental, but they are not "homophobic." Women participate equally in their fellowships. I see the fundamentalists and Mormons as being sincere, above all, and insincerity to me means genuflecting, confessing, taking communion and attending mass without a shred of mental activity involved.

No, what turns kids away from churches is that they are supremely boring. Nothing ever happens there that beats an hour of video gaming or texting. They used to be great places to meet and mate, but now there are better opportunities for that outside of church.