Are you a “None”?
According to a 2023 survey by The Pew Research Group, “…about 28% of U.S. adults are religiously unaffiliated, describing themselves as atheists, agnostics or ‘nothing in particular’ when asked about their religion.”
In the sampling, 63% of the people surveyed were “nothing in particular”. Atheists (17%) do not believe in God at all, and Agnostics (20%) believe that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.
The Pew Research Group continued, “Most ‘Nones’ cite disbelief or skepticism as reasons they are not religious,” but there is a silver lining.
56% of Nones believe in a higher power but not necessarily the biblical God.
In other words, they are open to spirituality. Nature, animals, mountains, rivers, are each potential god-like entities for many of them along with other expressions of worship.
Ironically, most Nones were raised in a religion, usually Christianity, but seldom if ever attend any religious gatherings. For this group, disinterest in church hardened over time as adolescence and adulthood approached.
Many reasons factor into Nones jettisoning church and Christianity with 43% believing the church does more harm than good.
This, again, is an irony as Nones are less likely to be engaged in civics, volunteer, offer charity, or vote.
So, while they may criticize the church, they are doing little altruistic work themselves.
What, then, is the underlying issue for religious apathy?
To be sure, some are hostile toward religion because of past experiences, but the true answer may be as simple as a mirror.
Before selfies, mirrors were a brutal reminder of what we lacked in our looks.
With the advent of digital filters on cell phones, for instance, years can be erased from our faces or certain qualities enhanced.
Nones may wish to have filters more than true reflections because false images of us are not as welcomed as a mirrored surface.
In the same way, spiritual mirrors like the bible, God, and truth, show us our moral and ethical imperfections.
In short, we’d rather clean up our look with gimmicks rather than be barefaced about our soul.
The making of and chasing after idols puts us in the driver’s seat. Consider the Golden Calf, Baal and Asherah, Chemosh, Molech, and many others in the biblical Old Testament, that mankind created to replace or usurp the power of an Almighty God.
These were invented, in part, to pretend that we are something other than what we are and to control the narrative of our lives, albeit a false one.
Each of us at some level probably identifies with the sentiment of the Nones. But willful efforts to reimagine that which is self-evident, namely our need for true Godliness, will not serve us well.
In fact, you might call it “None-sense”.
Kent Simmons is the pastor of Canyon Community Church in Kingman, AZ.
