In this episode of For the Good of the Public podcast, Michael and Phebe share a conversation with Ryan Burge, an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, Tara Isabella Burton, a writer and a 2023 Public Life Fellow, and Chine McDonald, director of Theos, a religious society think tank based in UK. There has been a rise in religious disaffiliation or people who desire to distance themselves from the institutional church, especially among Gen Z and millennials. The panelists bring their perspective as they provide a deep dive on the current religious trends and demographics, and what the “Rise of the Nones” means for American politics, culture and communities.

Watch the video recording of this talk on YouTube!

“I think this is one of the most significant demographic and cultural shifts that’s taken place in American life over the last couple of decades, and so that’s an important reason for us to be hosting a conversation.” -Phebe [01:15]

“It’s a trend that’s impacting every aspect of American society. There’s no demographic group that you can name that has not been more secularized today than 10 or 15 years ago, whether it be race or age or gender or politics or region. Everyone–basically every demographic group in America today—is less religious than they were 10 or 15 years ago. -Ryan [06:30] 

“One of the positives that one of my previous bosses used to say when looking at this from a religious disaffiliation in the UK was actually what you were left with was the real Christians, right? Because it was no longer socially advantageous to go to church or to occupy a pew on a Sunday morning.” -Chine [20:09]

“I wonder–and I don’t have the wisdom to have the answer–how one preserves both the openness and the communal importance of religious life without ceding ground that church is just another thing you can choose to do with your Sunday.” -Tara [24:49]

TIMESTAMPS

[00:00] Intro

[01:05] Why did we host this conversation?

[01:56] About this week’s speakers

[03:36] More introductions

[05:31] People leaving the church

[08:57] Community and belonging

[15:16] American non-religion

[20:06] What cause the disaffiliation

[25:57] What they see in the future

[30:28] Outro

REFERENCES

• 2023 Public Life Fellows
• Theos
• Ryan Burge’s Substack
• Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton
• For the Good of the Public Summit
• The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going by Ryan Burge
• The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? by Michael Graham, Ryan Burge and Jim Davis
• Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians by Tara Isabella Burton
• Tom Holland interview: ‘We swim in Christian waters’
• Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam

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