If a convert
is someone who has been persuaded to change
their religious faith, what’s a nonvert?
According to
Stephen Bullivant, professor of theology and the sociology of religion at St
Mary’s University in Britain, a nonvert is a person who grew up in a religious
home but who drifted away—who once identified with a religion, but now say they
have no religion.
In Britain,
the number of nonverts who experience what is called “nonversion” is growing.
Altogether,
48.6% of Britons now say they have no religion, according to data from the 2015
British Social Attitudes Survey and the 2014 European Social Survey.
“The striking thing is the clear sense
of the growth of ‘no religion’ as a proportion of the population,” Bullivant
told The Guardian.
“The main driver is people who were
brought up with some religion now saying they have no religion . . . the rise
of the non-religious is arguably the story of British religious history over
the past half-century or so.”
In his report, titled “The ‘No Religion’ Population of Britain,” he notes that over 60% of the nonverts were
brought up as Christians, mainly Anglican or Catholic.
Non-Christian religions have better
retention levels; overall, only 2% of nonverts were raised in religious homes
other than Christian.
According to Bullivant, the
“nonversion” rate was 14% for Jews, 10% for Muslims and Sikhs and 6% for
Hindus.
But what about people going the other
way—converting from no-faith to being religious?
The news isn’t good on that front; the
number of the non-religious who convert from no faith to faith is small.
Just over 5% of what Bullivant calls “cradle
nones” report becoming Christians. Only 2% joined non-Christian faiths.
Or, to put it another way, for every
person brought up in a non-religious household who becomes religious, 26 people
raised as Christians became non-religious.
Other findings from Bullivant’s
report showed that 67% of Britons identified as some kind of Christian in 1983;
in 2015, it was 43%.
Over the same period, members of non-Christian
religions have more than quadrupled.
Those who no longer identify with
religions are younger on average—35% of the “nones” are under 35, compared to
just 6% of that cohort who say they are Anglicans.
If there is any good news for
religious groups, Bullivant says that after consistent decline the proportion
of nones in Britain appears to have stabilized over the past few years.
“Younger people tend to be more
non-religious, so you’d expect it to keep going,” he said in an interview.
“But it hasn’t. The steady growth of
non-Christian religions is a contributing factor, but I wonder if everyone who
is going to give up their Anglican affiliation has done so by now? We’ve seen a
vast shedding of nominal Christianity, and perhaps it’s now down to its
hardcore.”
And that may be another source of good
news for religious groups, he suggests.
In an article in the Church Times, an Anglican newspaper in
Britain, Bullivant noted that while many people have left Christianity, a
“creative minority” of committed Christians remains.
This group is
strongly committed, he said, and since they are “swimming against the tide” are
often stronger in their faith.
This may lead
to a rise in the number of people who are committed to religion in the future,
he added, since they will be more intentional about bringing their children up
in the faith.
What does
this mean for Canadian religious groups?
Attendance at
religious services is also declining in this country, as is affiliation with
various religious groups—at 24% of the population, one of the fastest growing “faiths”
is Canada is the nones. But will we reach the same levels as Britain? Time will
tell.
In the
meantime, one lesson that can be drawn out of the British experience might be
for groups to consider pouring fewer resources into outreach and what
Christians call evangelism, since it doesn’t appear to be working.
What might be
more effective could be putting effort into shoring up current supporters—things
like more family ministries, children’s programs, youth groups, creative ways
to be relevant and community-minded, and provide more support for religious
colleges and universities.
Maybe that
way there will be fewer nonverts in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment