In trying to map out our religious landscape today, it’s natural to reach for the data. Michael Graham, Jim Davis, and Ryan Burge will tell you that in the last 25 years, we’ve lived through the “great dechurching,” where 40 million Americans stopped attending church. Similarly, Christian Smith will argue that religion has become “obsolete,” much like how the automobile replaced the horse and buggy.
But these surveys only give a partial answer. Burge notes that “None” doesn’t always equal “atheist.” Moreover, when Smith talks about obsolescence, he’s not pointing to a dramatic growth in atheistic secularity. He’s pointing to its replacement with varieties of “spiritual but not religious” options.
God hasn’t been removed from the picture; he’s been relocated. Where did God go? There are as many answers as there are people.
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