According to the book American Grace, the turmoil of the 1960s spawned a religious conservative reaction that has, for the past twenty years or so, resulted in turning young people off to churches in general. The book describes this group of young people as the new “nones.” These people are not hard-core secularists, nor do they self-identify as atheists. Many of them express some belief in God and say that religion is important in their lives. The research shows that they are not attached to organized religion (“none”) because they identify it with conservatism.
The authors of American Grace do not use the terms “spirituality” or “the spiritual life.” They employ terms like “religious” and “religiosity.” They have compiled data to support the view that among rank-and-file Americans spirituality and religiosity go hand in hand. They claim that we are a religious people, although to different degrees.
To assist them in their analysis, the authors have developed what they call the “religiosity index.” They ask six questions to develop an indicator of one’s religiosity, from low to high.
- How frequently do you attend religious services?
- How frequently do you pray outside of religious services?
- How important is religion in your daily life?
- How important is your religion to your sense of who you are?
- Are you a strong believer in your religion?
- How strong is your belief in God?
The answers to these questions provide the authors with a measurement tool for analyzing how varying levels of religiosity relate to one’s views on certain issues. The authors discuss many issues, too numerous to summarize here. Among them are 1) how we tend to view other religions, and 2) whether the non-religious can be good Americans. On these two issues, it is interesting that we tend to view other religions and non-religious Americans in a favorable light.
How do we account for this fact? The reason suggested by the authors is that religious diversity has touched us personally.
Religious diversity has crept into our neighborhoods, friendships, and extended family. The researches call this “the Aunt Susan principle.” Most Americans are intimately acquainted with people of other faiths. We all have an Aunt Susan in our lives, that is, a saintly person whose religious background is different from our own. Maybe you are Methodist and Aunt Susan is Jewish. Maybe you are Catholic and Aunt Susan is not religious at all. Still, you know her to be a good American and you feel good about her. She becomes a bridge to other people of diverse religious background. If she can be this way, others can to.
A similar phenomenon is called “the My Friend Al Principle.” You become friends with Al because you have a similar interest—let us say beekeeping. After getting to know Al at beekeeping seminars, you learn that Al is an evangelical. You had not thought much about evangelicals, and when you did, you were a bit uncertain and suspicious. But Al is alright, he is a good guy, so maybe evangelicals are okay too.
This is America’s Grace, the title of the book. As Americans, we are devoted to our religion. We are a religious people. But at the same time, we co-exist with religious diversity because of our interlocking personal relationships with people of different faiths or no faith. We are devoted to our own religious tradition, but also experience bridges to people of other traditions. Because this describes most of us, future successes in ministry will go to those who build bridges to others not to those who demonize and polarize.
