Abstract
How are we to make sense of the rapid decline of Christian affiliation occurring at the heart of Christendom? Missiologists will spot the fallacy in this question immediately. But in a work that lacks a missiological lens, it haunts the pages of Empty Churches: Non-Affiliation in America, edited by James L. Heft and Jan E. Stets. Framed from a Catholic perspective, Heft and Stets convene 19 interdisciplinary social scientists to understand the religiously non-affiliated in the USA, popularly known as the “Nones”: who are they, from where do they come, what are the consequences of this phenomenon, and what does this portend for Christianity?
These diverse scholars offer broad and penetrating insights. The rapid growth of non-affiliation (now roughly 29% of the population) is attributed to generational increases in nonreligious socialization (163) augmented by a sharp backlash against religious-right politics over the past 30 years (173). Roughly one in 10 Americans over 65 are unaffiliated (106), and the rate increases with each new generational cohort (3, 146). But with high levels of self-reported spirituality, this is less about “distance from God” than “distance from church” (4). While the non-affiliated are less civically involved, they remain highly politically engaged, which may partially account for increasing political polarization (172–73). The contributors’ perspectives are varied. Hardy and Longo cite longstanding data on the pro-social benefits of religious affiliation to argue that disaffiliation will likely prove socially maladaptive, particularly for developing youth (161). On a wider scale, Prusak laments prospects for western-style liberty and democracy after decoupling morality from “Abrahamic metaphysics” (266–67). Hedstrom, on the other hand, characterizes disaffiliation as a “religious act of moral protest” (214) congruent with the historical American trajectory toward a liberal religious cosmopolitanism (194).
The gaps between these analyses demonstrate the subject’s missiological relevance: this is a topic crying out for cultural, as well as religious, psychological, and sociological analysis. Empty Churches would have benefitted from the postcolonial and intercultural perspectives of a missiologist to challenge its western-centric frame, not least by situating North America as a field of mission rather than Christendom’s seat. On the other hand, these essays draw attention to a pressing phenomenon; one arguably neglected by missiologists in the burgeoning age of world Christianity. Accordingly, the analyses and insights found in this well-researched and readable collection should prove valuable to anyone seeking to seriously engage the Nones missiologically.