On a near-daily basis, an article appears on my Facebook feed bemoaning the decline of institutional religion in the United States, with a particular focus on the lack of millennial involvement in traditional religious spaces. Christianity is often considered: in 2014, 70.6% of American adults considered themselves Christian, down from 78.4% in 2008 according to the Pew Research Center. While we see a slight increase in traditions such as Islam and Hinduism, the Pew Research Center attributes the decrease in practicing Christians to the decline of the mainline denominations and Catholicism. It is likely that this number has declined further since 2014. As many as 6,000 – 10,000 churches close every year, and millennials express disillusionment with institutional Christianity over widespread support for Donald Trump, the lack of affirmation for LGBTQ folks in many traditionally religious spaces, and clergy misconduct scandals.
In response to the decline of institutional religion in the United States—Christianity in particular—those interested in the future of faith in America are considering new ways of being in spiritual community. While acknowledging the growth of other movements within Christianity, such as Pentecostalism, and the increasing diversity of religions practiced in the United States, observers point out that many millennials are often drawn more to secular organizations than they are to traditional religious communities. For example, the How We Gather report focuses on a variety of communities that fulfil spiritual needs, from exercise classes to workout communities to dinner gatherings.
Most prominent of these new communities are wellness and exercise classes such as SoulCycle and CrossFit. In a December 2017 profile in The Atlantic, representatives from SoulCycle describe the bicycling workout community as seeking to facilitate spiritual experiences by fulfilling the desires for ritual with exercise, religious community with workout classes, and mediation or prayer with the physicality of an intense workout. Further, the SoulCycle website sells products with slogans such as “Spiritual Gangster.”
In an age of individualism and a growing desire for spirituality, I appreciate that spiritual fulfilment can be found in groups outside the normal boundaries of religious institutions. However, I worry that some of these organizations are embracing the worst of institutional religion and are entangling themselves in America’s civil religion of capitalism.
With the rise of corporations such as SoulCycle and CrossFit filling a spiritual niche, we should be wary of embracing these communities and organizations as successors to religious institutions. Tara Isabella Burton, a writer whose forthcoming book explores the rise of the religiously unaffiliated in America, notes that wellness movements such as SoulCycle focus on a model of self-care that is intrinsically internal, a “time to be unapologetically selfish” for self-transformation. Burton notes that contemporary wellness movements utilize the language of self-care, echoing Audre Lorde’s work advocating for marginalized people to support themselves and their communities in the face of oppressive political and economic systems.
However, the self-care of many contemporary American spiritual and wellness movements requires, Burton argues, “assent, not resistance, to those very systems” of capitalism and inequality. This can be seen in the extraordinarily high cost that is required to participate (in contrast with pledging in a church, for example, that should allow appropriate giving based on ability). Further, many of these movements contribute to gentrification of American cities and actively exclude people of color and those who do not fit the mold of thin, young professionals.
The commodification of spirituality is further reflected in the companies’ own marketing strategies. In an article in Adweek, SoulCycle’s brand strategy is examined, focusing on its appropriation of the dharma wheel in its logo, their approach to interacting with customers so that each interaction seems personal, and the usage of music and candles to create a spiritual atmosphere—traits that are highlighted as positive contributors to the organization’s increased revenue and growth. Spirituality is evoked as a marketing tool for corporate growth and an increase in profit.
In light of the decline of institutional religion and the commercialization of spirituality, we must envision a future spiritual landscape that centers social justice and resists the commodification of spirituality for profit. This landscape leaves room for churches, mosques, and synagogues committed to inclusion along with “non-traditional” spiritual communities such as artist collectives, faith-based social movements, and intentional living communities. Many of these forms of communities can be found in the aforementioned How We Gather report and the follow up, Something More, which focuses on communities rooted in a specific faith tradition.
Interfaith communities and initiatives might also be a part of this landscape. While interfaith conversations frequently—and historically—focus on representatives from various religious communities coming together to seek common ground and dialogue across differences, new communities and initiatives are emerging that leave space for the religious “nones,” seekers, atheists, agnostics, and the spiritual-but-not-religious.
A new interfaith movement that seeks to bridge the divide between the traditionally religious and the spiritual-but-not-religious is the Nuns and Nones project, which was recently highlighted in the New York Times. Acknowledging the role of women religious in education, healthcare, affordable housing initiatives, climate activism, immigration justice, and other social concerns along with the reality that 40% of American millennials identify as “none” on religious census boxes, Nuns and Nones recognizes “a common call to incubate new forms of community rooted in love and committed to justice.”
Started by several spiritual-but-not-religious professionals in their 30s who sought to study intentional communities that were living activist lives, the Nuns and Nones project has evolved into a mutual dialogue about spiritual practice, ritual, and values that meets in small groups in New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, Pittsburgh, and other cities.
Participants in the Nuns and Nones project report the mutual benefits that such conversation provides. Sisters who participate acknowledge the increasing average age of women religious and hope that such projects can serve as a way to pass along their charism and wisdom. Likewise, millennial participants began to examine the sisters’ vows as models for right relationship (chastity), stewardship of resources (poverty), and vocational discernment (obedience).
Other interfaith movements such as the Interfaith Youth Core, a nationwide organization that sponsors interfaith organizing on university campuses, provide space for atheist, agnostic, spiritual-but-not-religious, and seeker students to find community separate from traditional and institutional religion. University chaplaincies are also increasingly welcoming non-religious students through hiring humanist chaplains and supporting student-led humanist groups.
These organizations will never replace churches, mosques, temples, or synagogues—nor should they. As someone active in Christian religious life, I do not wish for the Church to die nor believe that interfaith organizations or dialogue can be a primary spiritual community for everyone.
However, in recognizing the multiplicity of ways that people experience spirituality, increasingly in secular spaces, we must pay attention to initiatives that provide spaces for both religiously-unaffiliated and religious individuals to find spiritual meaning in dialogue with others—across faith lines, generations, and worldviews. In envisioning spirituality outside of institutional religious life and corporations, these communities value a shared commitment to justice, collective spiritual growth, and interdependence over profit, economic gain, and expensive membership fees. They seek to bring authentic human relationships to the forefront where disparate groups are able to learn from each other and practice their commitments to shared values.
While the future for American religious life may seem bleak at times, there are glimmers of hope. Perhaps the interfaith movement, in all its different manifestations, will emerge as a leader in creating space for those seeking spirituality outside the walls of institutions.
Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels