They're looking for "a church that isn't a church," to use Rachel Martin's phrase.

As far as I can see, Bacon and Martin are raising important questions about what societies lose when they lose key institutions that are centered on building community and recognizing that we are all, churched or unchurched, across racial, age, gender, and all other lines, in it together. Healthy societies need such institutions. And churches have for many of us failed to be them.

#nones #dechurching #church
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Perry Bacon Jr. explains to Rachel Martin — both nones who were raised churched, with church playing an important role in their lives — what he means when he says he's looking now for a "church of nones."

He and Martin both found the community, the commitment to shared values, that was central to their church experience important, and they miss it now that they are nones.

#nones #dechurching #unchurched #church
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https://www.npr.org/2023/09/10/1198509609/the-search-for-a-church-that-isnt-a-church

“More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined."

~ Jim Davis and Michael Graham, The Great Dechurching

Hmm: I wonder precisely what might be spurring that exodus, which has grown even larger after 80% of white evangelicals and 60% of white Catholics and Mormons elected Trump in 2016?

#churches #dechurching

https://religionnews.com/2023/09/07/the-great-dechurching-explores-americas-religious-exodus/