A 2012 Pew study tracked the rise of a new religious group: the “nones,” or the religiously unaffiliated. One-fifth of Americans — and a full third of adults under 30 — say they belong to no religion at all.
The study found that many of these “nones” aren't actively searching for a religion or faith; many report disillusionment with internal church politicking, restrictive dogma, or institutional hypocrisy.
Yet, argues Casper ter Kuile, a researcher at Harvard Divinity School who focuses on religious identity in a secular age, this group — overwhelmingly young, progressive, and spiritually open — is still looking for elements of religious experience. In his 2015 study “How We Gather” (co-authored with Angie Thurston), ter Kuile explores ways modern millennials seek out meaning, community, and ritual in the absence of organized religion.
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