Despite the fact that "Nones"-people who do not identify with or
belong to any religious tradition-are, by definition, impervious to
generalization, there is a tendency for others to draw to mind a
certain prototype when imagining them. It is often an unflattering
or overly simplified portrait of a person whose spiritual life
might be characterized by words like "individualist,"
"narcissistic," "uncommitted," "unbelieving," "consumeristic,"
"superficial," and otherwise less serious and meaningful than that
of a person whose spiritual identity is anchored in formal
membership in an institutional religious organization. As Elizabeth
Drescher points out in Choosing Our Religion, Nones are described
by negatives; they do not identify as belonging to a specific
group, and are not affiliated with an institutional religion.
However, there are now more self-identified Nones in this country
than Mainline Protestants or Non-Denominational and Born Again
Christians, a result of what is clearly a significant religious and
spiritual shift in American culture. Breaking away from both the
derisive accounts of this trend, as well as myriad studies focusing
on data analysis of its social, cultural, and political impact,
Drescher invites members of the fastest growing religious
demographic in the US to speak for themselves. She asks them about
how they came to their present spiritual outlook, how they
understand the divine, what role spiritual sages and sacred texts
play in their spiritual lives, what the meaning and purpose of the
spiritual life might be, how community functions in spirituality,
what practices enrich the spiritual life, what happens when we die,
and other basic theological and spiritual questions. As she
discovers, most Nones report having been raised in religious
households, nearly two-thirds of them Christian; in fact, the
majority of Nones are not atheists or agnostics, but believers and
seekers most of whom adhere to nominally Christian beliefs and
practices mixed liberally with resources from non-Christian
traditions. Research for the book began with on an online survey
about the beliefs, practices, and outlooks of religious Nones.
Drescher then used the survey results as a guide for a series of
focus groups and one-on-one interviews. In Choosing Our Religion,
Nones will emerge as real people drawing on the resources available
to them-diverse religious traditions, spiritual exploration,
personal and communal experience-to shape a spiritual outlook and
practice that they find meaningful and life-giving.
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