Praise for The Nones

“Pastors and church leaders need to steward well our understanding and use of statistics, especially when it comes to understanding and explaining the rise of the nones. In this most helpful book, The Nones, Ryan P. Burge provides an aerial view of the American religious landscape as well as an amplified view of the rise of the nones—America’s fastest-growing demographic. When you’re finished reading this book, you will see the American religious landscape as it is—not as you think it is.”

—Ed Stetzer, executive director, Wheaton College Billy Graham Center

“A great temptation of this age is to label people, to turn individuals into categories that we can automatically dismiss or approve. The growing ranks of the diverse, religiously unaffiliated demographic are especially vulnerable to this reductionism. Against this trend, Ryan P. Burge deploys his expertise as a sociologist and his experience as a pastor to provide an invaluable, insightful, and detailed portrait of the nones. They turn out to be quite something and a reality that anyone involved in ministry or interested in society ought to understand. The Nones is an excellent guide.”

—David Gibson, director, Center on Religion and Culture, Fordham University

“Every time I talk to Ryan P. Burge, I learn something. He is one of the sharpest academics studying religion in the country. He brings both a sharp eye for data and a small-church pastor’s insight into the changes affecting the American religious landscape. If you want to understand the rise of the nones—those who claim no religion—and how faith groups might respond, this is the book for you.”

—Bob Smietana, journalist, Religion News Service

“You can’t minister to those you don’t understand. The Nones will expand your knowledge of the rapidly growing ‘religiously unaffiliated’ population. Using straightforward analysis and rich graphics, Ryan P. Burge masterfully uncovers the origin, character, and future of this diverse but influential group. This analysis concludes with advice for addressing the spiritual needs of the ‘nothing in particular’ nones. The Nones belongs on every pastor’s bookshelf.”

—Scott Thumma, professor and DMin director, Hartford Seminary; director, Hartford Institute for Religion Research

“A skill church leaders could develop, even if it spins the leader into some pain, is to listen to the disaffected, those who grew up in the church or near the church and who as young adults have walked on a different path. Anecdotes learned from listening then need to be enhanced and complicated with the kinds of data and interpretation that Ryan P. Burge sorts out in The Nones. Statistics and helpful graphs abound in this book and provide us with graphic displays of an unpleasant, complicated reality. Every section in this book brings me pain as a confessing Christian, but I want to know what is being experienced among those who find my faith inadequate or unhelpful. Be prepared to be distressed and disturbed, ...

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About The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going

In The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going, Ryan P. Burge details a comprehensive picture of an increasingly significant group--Americans who say they have no religious affiliation.

The growth of the nones in American society has been dramatic. In 1972, just 5 percent of Americans claimed "no religion" on the General Social Survey. In 2018, that number rose to 23.7 percent, making the nones as numerous as both evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics. Every indication is that the nones will be the largest religious group in the United States in the next decade.

Burge illustrates his precise but accessible descriptions with charts and graphs drawn from over a dozen carefully curated datasets, some tracking changes in American religion over a long period of time, others large enough to allow a statistical deep dive on subgroups such as atheists and agnostics. Burge also draws on data that tracks how individuals move in and out of religion over time, helping readers understand what type of people become nones and what factors lead an individual to return to religion.

The Nones gives readers a nuanced, accurate, and meaningful picture of the growing number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. Burge explains how this rise happened, who the nones are, and what they mean for the future of American religion.

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