America's Religious Revival Is a Mirage
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What is the current state of religion in America?
Today, the state of religion in America and the state of America. Perhaps you've heard the news. America is experiencing a religious revival, and it's concentrated among young people who are flocking back to church. From The Economist, quote, the West has stopped losing its religion. From The Washington Post, quote, why Catholicism is drawing in Gen Z men. From Reuters, quote, Catholicism spreads amongst young Britons longing for something deeper. And from the Wall Street Journal, quote, a church's campaign to teach lost boys how to be men. Big if true, as they say.
How has the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans changed over time?
Since the early 1990s, the share of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation has been skyrocketing. This group is somewhat confusingly called nuns, N-O-N-E-S, which is a homonym for nuns, N-U-N-S, which describes, of course, extremely religious people. I don't know who came up with this word. I think it's a bad one, but it is a term of art, and so we're all stuck with it. In any case, the story of religion in America has been the rise of the N-O-N-E-S nuns for decades. which makes it a big deal if that trend line, the long secularization of America, has hit the pause button. But as today's guest Ryan Burge tells us, the secular pause in America is much stranger than it initially looks.
What is the significance of the term 'nuns' in religious discussions?
And the forces behind today's weird religious revival, including the rise of new churches, the conflation of Christianity and the Republican Party, and the divergent ideologies of old and young Americans, are some of the most important trends in culture and politics. To understand the state of religion in America today is to understand the state of America. Ryan is the author of a sensational substack called Graphs About Religion, which does exactly what it says in the tin, deep dives into the state of belief and identity in America to produce beautiful graphs about religion. So today's episode will be a little special for folks on YouTube and Spotify. You'll be able to see the beautiful graphs that Ryan makes, graphs that really hammer home his deepest conclusions.
And if you'd prefer to simply listen along, that's fine, of course. You can check out the full transcript of this conversation, along with Ryan's pretty charts, if you head to my Substack at DerekThompson.org, where this conversation will run very soon after it goes live here. Thanks for listening and for watching, as always. I'm Derek Thompson. This is Plain English.
Ryan Burge, welcome to the show. Oh, thanks so much for having me, Derek. Appreciate being here. We're going to do something fun on this show. We're going to talk about the history of the state of the future of religion in America, and we're going to do it by showing audiences watching on Spotify or YouTube some of the really fantastic charts that you've published on your sub stack.
What factors contribute to the rise of new religious movements in America?
So if folks are listening rather than watching, have no fear, you're going to get 100% of the content here. but if you can watch, you're going to get 110% of the content because some of these charts are really, really fascinating, and you're gonna wanna maybe take a screen grab and talk about it on your group chats. Let's start with the biggest possible picture here. Throughout the 20th century, America was, by all accounts, the most religious rich country in the world by far. 400 years after the scientific revolution. 100 years after Nietzsche declared God is dead. In America, God was not dead. We were still a very religious country. What's the deal with America and religion?
You are right, Derek. We are an insanely religious country, and it becomes even more prominent when you do a scatterplot of GDP on one axis and religiosity on the other axis because all the other wealthy countries on Earth, especially our Eastern, Western European neighbors, Scandinavian neighbors, they're significantly less religious than we are. Our closest comparison is Switzerland in terms of GDP, and only 17% of the Swiss say religion is very important. In America, it's about 50%. So we are three times more religious than we should be compared to our European neighbors.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the current state of religion in America?
0:05–0:45
2
How has the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans changed over time?
0:45–1:31
3
What is the significance of the term 'nuns' in religious discussions?
1:31–3:25
4
What factors contribute to the rise of new religious movements in America?
3:25–4:40
5
Why do some younger Americans identify as non-religious?
4:40–5:51
6
How does the relationship between religion and politics affect American society?
5:51–7:04
7
What are the different subcategories of non-religious Americans?
7:04–8:09
8
What role does community play in the lives of religious versus non-religious individuals?
8:09–1:06:10