More and more is being said about the rise of the "nones"--these persons who claim no religious connection.  I certainly recognize the gravity of the situation--for established Christianity in the West.  Church life and its cultural dynamics, as we know it in North America, are rapidly changing.  Like it or not! But this news is not a real cause of alarm for Christianity.  As an essay today notes from the National Catholic Reporter, this stupendous rise in the nones isn't necessarily connected to a particularly significant rise in atheism, nor are agnostics making huge gains.  Rather, the vast majority of the nones are simply saying we are "nothing in particular."

Interestingly, much of the claims of the nones comes from the perceptions and interactions they have had with churches.  Seeing leadership abuses, obsession with rules, and hypocritical attitudes and behaviors, many of the nones have simply disconnected from communities of faith.  Herein, lies the hope.  Many of the nones still claim a sense of the spiritual, that human beings are meant for more than what meets the eye.  The phrase that is often trotted out--"spiritual but not religious"--really does hold sway.

Whether western forms of Christian faith will respond is, of course, an open question.  The gospel itself is not lacking in its capacity to transform peoples, families, and cultures.  Much of the global south is dynamically alive with Christian vitality.  What scholar Philip Jenkins noted over a decade ago (here is an essay in the Atlantic in 2002), is reflected in a recent report published by Gordon Conwell Seminary. More germane is the ways in which North American and European congregations will respond to the increasingly unchurched culture.  Whatever we make of all this, it is important to remember that even if Sunday morning worship assemblies are smaller than they used to be, it does not mean that persons have lost any sense of transcendence.

More likely, they have no real and compelling frame of reference.  Why not, they argue, be "nothing in particular" until something else comes along?