SOJOUNERS: The Pew Forum recently released a new study, “Nones on the Rise.”
This was not about my friends called the “Nuns On The Bus,” who just
did a tour around the country focusing on social justice. Rather, It
details the concerning trend of those in our country who have given up on religion altogether.
Social scientists tell us that adults,
especially young adults, are increasingly disconnected from our
established religious traditions. “Nones,” the Pew forum calls them,
have grown from 15 percent of U.S. adults to 20 percent in only five
years. One-in-three adults under 30 check the religious
affiliation box, “None of the above” or “Unaffiliated.” Despite the fact
that 68 percent of nones believe in God, only 5 percent of them attend
church once or more a week, and 22 percent attend monthly/yearly. Read more....
MY RESPONSE: Jim, Thanks for the article highlighting the Pew data and the compelling analysis of their numbers and its meaning for those of us who are religiously affiliated. The "Nones" remind me of a phrase that I'm sure I'll misquote from John Paul I: Atheists don't so much reject God, as they reject the false idea of God that they receive from believers. These numbers encourage me to live an authentic Christian life. But not a life that acknowledges uncomfortable truths and then settles for living a comfortable life. This is more about always striving to live more justly, more sustainably, more from a stance of personal contemplation and conversion. It is about speaking the truth to power only when I've first struggled to live that truth myself, acknowledging my own complicity in the wrongs I try to right. That doesn't mean I quit talking, but that I speak more softly, more humbly, inviting others to walk the path of conversion with me. I'm thinking of another Pope quote: "People today listen more willingly to witnesses than
to teachers, and if we do listen to teachers, it is because they are
witnesses."
In religious communities and other faith-based intentional communities, we can commit ourselves to living the Gospel deliberately and conscientiously. Banding together with others affords us mutual support in the commitment, and it gives encouragement when we are weaker and challenge when we are tempted to compromise.
--Amy
In religious communities and other faith-based intentional communities, we can commit ourselves to living the Gospel deliberately and conscientiously. Banding together with others affords us mutual support in the commitment, and it gives encouragement when we are weaker and challenge when we are tempted to compromise.
--Amy
I am blogging as anonymous because I don't know how to blog. I am of the older generation of ex-novices and although I have been married I have never changed lost an ounce of my desire for God. Blessed, my desire has only increased. I will be following your blog because it shows how the context of our times is inseparably bound to our expression of love. It may be that the pendulum is swinging between the two Sister associations but when it settles in the middle, consecrated women may be more respected by clerics, may bring the church back to a more even keel of cleric and laity, and even become deacons and priests without excommunication.
ReplyDelete