A sociologist observes the changing tides of American antireligion.
Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America, by Stephen Bullivant, is really two books in one. Book 1 consists of interviews with a variety of Americans who, though raised in households that were recognizably religious, now describe themselves as nonreligious. They converted out and became the sort of people who check “no religious affiliation” on surveys. And they are now part of a subgroup that sociologists call “nones.” Bullivant uses the term nonverts to describe the subset of nones who were once affiliated but now are not.
Bullivant argues that nonverts deserve special attention. Many people have no religious affiliation. But the nonverts, the formerly religious, view their nonaffiliation differently from those Bullivant calls “cradle nones.” The story of how nones recently rose to be 30 percent of American adults hinges on understanding the proliferation of nonverts. The past three or four decades of religion in America are defined by adults leaving religion. If you fail to understand what might be called “nonversion,” you cannot understand the rise of the nones.
Something has shifted
Bullivant’s theory of why and how this happened comprises book 2.
The chapters move back and forth between book 1, the interviews, and book 2, the theory. Their titles are laden with language gags that would leave even the most devoted punsters stifling groans and eye rolls.
Take, for instance, the chapter that introduces the theoretical narrative, which Bullivant titles “None the Up and Up.” (If you don’t care for this sort of wordplay, you may want to skip past this paragraph.) Next comes interviews with Mormons (“When the Saints Go Marching Out”). Then …Continue reading… www.christianitytoday.org
