Losing Our Religion

Examines how "Religious Nones" negotiate tensions with those who think they ought to provide their children with a religious upbringing

The fastest growing religion in America is—none! One fifth of Americans now list their religion as “none,” up from only 7 percent two decades ago. Among adults under 30, those poised to be the parents of the next generation, fully one third are religiously unaffiliated. Yet these “Nones,” especially parents, still face prejudice in a culture where religion is widely seen as good for your kids. What do Nones believe, and how do they negotiate tensions with those convinced that they ought to provide their children with a religious upbringing?

Drawing on survey data and in-depth personal interviews with religiously unaffiliated parents across the country, Christel Manning provides important demographic data on American “Nones” and offers critical nuance to our understanding of the term. She shows that context is crucial in understanding how those without religious ties define themselves and raise their families. Indeed, she demonstrates that Nones hold a wide variety of worldviews, ranging from deeply religious to highly secular, and transmit them in diverse ways. What ties them all together is a commitment to spiritual choice—a belief in the moral equivalence of religions and secular worldviews and in the individual’s right to choose—and it is that choice they seek to pass on to their children.

The volume weaves in stories from the author’s interviews throughout, showing how non-religious parents grapple with pressure from their community and how they think about religious issues. Engagingly written and thoroughly researched, Losing Our Religion will appeal to scholars, parents, and anyone interested in understanding the changing American religious landscape.

"Full of new insights both conceptual and practical about the growing religiously unaffiliated population today. Manning offers a new typology for understanding its diverse constituency, beliefs and identities. For 'none' parents, she addresses many questions and issues likely to arise with their children. And does so in an honest and engaging manner drawing on insights gleaned from dealing with her own teenage daughter. A good and informative read."--Wade C. Roof, J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society Emeritus, University of California at Santa Barbara

“A very useful and timely addition to the sociological literature on the fast growing population of Nones, which is having a growing impact on 21st century American society. The dilemmas facing the current generation of parents who self-identify with no religion and have to grapple with the question of how to raise their children can be a real challenge for many couples. This book provides valuable insights and guidance by offering a rich body of material including a societal overview, interviewees’ stories, and the author’s own experience as a parent."--Barry A. Kosmin, Director, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture, Trinity College

“The 'rise of the Nones' has been the decade's most important story about religion in America, but we know very little about what distinguishes the religiously unaffiliated from other Americans. In this sophisticated yet accessible qualitative study, Christel Manning provides a fascinating view of how None parents negotiate the moral and spiritual upbringing of their children.”--Mark Silk, Trinity College

To Sunday school or not to Sunday school? To the intriguing question of how parents without religious affiliation raise their children, the answers vary, as do the parents studied here. Manning (Professor of Religious Studies/Sacred Heart Univ.; God Gave Us The Right: Conservative Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, and Orthodox Jewish Women Grapple with Feminism, 1999, etc.) opens with data about the rapidly growing number of people in the United States, especially those under 30, who list "none" when asked to indicate their religious affiliation. The author divides the "Nones" into four categories—unchurched believer, spiritual seeker, philosophical secularist, and the indifferent—which she takes pains to differentiate. She discusses the plusses and minuses of five strategies by which parents attempt to transmit a worldview to their children: going back to church, finding an alternative community, doing it oneself, letting others do it, and finally, doing nothing. In addition to using existing surveys and demographic data, Manning conducted interviews with Nones across the country, seeking to discover how they differ from churched Americans, asking what choices they made about including religion in their children's lives, what strategies they adopted, how community and family pressures shaped their choices, and how having children affected their own worldviews. A self-identified None, she clearly established a rapport with her subjects that enabled her to extract thoughtful, revealing answers. She summarizes some responses and quotes extensively from others, making the book longer than absolutely necessary but more pleasurable than a more academic text. Having presented the results of her study and analyzing its significance, the author then muses on the meaning of choice in religion, the significance of this trend toward personal choice, and its impact on the culture at large. As to whether it is better to raise children with or without religion, her conclusion is that more study is needed to answer that question. Refreshingly nonpolemical—will be of special interest to secular parents struggling with some of the issues presented.--Kirkus Reviews