Shifting Spiritual Landscapes in America

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This chapter examines the trends of religious affiliation and disaffiliation in America, particularly focusing on the growing demographic of 'nuns'—those who identify as unaffiliated with any religion. It highlights generational shifts in beliefs, expressing skepticism towards organized religion while still acknowledging personal spirituality. Additionally, the chapter discusses the implications of these changes for civic engagement and the perceived social role of religion in contemporary society.

New data, same headlines. The surveys and studies always seem to repeat the same refrain: Church attendance is in decline. Religious participation is phasing out of American life. Except…our data shows the opposite. In our most recent edition of The Unstuck Church Report, the average year-over-year attendance increase was 17% across churches of all sizes. There’s clearly something different about the churches engaging with our surveys.

In this series, we’re going to try to explain what’s so different about unstuck churches and give you some practical ways to make sense of the things contributing to church growth or decline.

We have our own data and observations from the work we do that we will share in the next two episodes, but we wanted to start out with an exploration of recent data and trends from an authority on religion in American life. So, we invited Alan Cooperman from Pew Research Center to join us for a conversation about the broader trends happening in the U.S.

For the full episode transcript, links mentioned during the show, and to download the Leader Conversation Guide, visit this episode's Show Notes at theunstuckgroup.com/episode360.

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