{"id":29201,"date":"2025-09-29T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=29201"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:50:11","slug":"the-rise-of-the-nones-disaffiliated-but-not-disbelieving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/09\/the-rise-of-the-nones-disaffiliated-but-not-disbelieving","title":{"rendered":"The Rise of the Nones: Disaffiliated But Not Disbelieving"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the 1990s, the number of people unaffiliated with organized religion\u2014the so-called “nones”<\/a>\u2014has surged worldwide. But while these individuals reject institutional faith, many still embrace spiritual beliefs, from the afterlife to divine presence. A recent Pew study reveals that the world may not be entering a post-religion era but rather a post-institutional one\u2014where belief persists even as trust in religious systems fades.<\/p>\n

From 2010 to 2020, the portion of “nones” grew significantly in 35 countries<\/a>. Australia, Chile, Uruguay, the U.S., Estonia, the U.K., and Canada experienced the highest rates of growth in religious disaffiliation.<\/p>\n

However, while the nones are unaffiliated with formal religions, they are far from non-religious. The Pew Research Center published a report earlier in September that showed striking levels of religiosity amongst the nones.<\/p>\n

Pew’s global study<\/a> draws from 22 countries. And while Pew asked survey respondents about their critical perspectives on, for example, religion’s impact on society, they also asked respondents if they held any beliefs traditionally associated with religion.<\/p>\n

Overall, one in every five nones across the 22 countries believes in an afterlife. Although this percentage varies widely, it can be as high as 65% in Peru and as low as 19% in Hungary.<\/p>\n

Depending on the country, the majority of nones can hold a particular religious belief. For example, 65% of nones in Brazil believe that there is a spiritual world beyond the natural world. 83% of nones in Peru believe in God. And 85% of nones in Chile believe that animals have spirits or possess spiritual energies.<\/p>\n

In fact, even in countries with high religious disaffiliation, it is rare for nones not <\/em>to hold religious beliefs. At most, a quarter of nones report not believing in God, an afterlife, and a spiritual world. The highest rates of such non-belief are found in Sweden (28%), the Netherlands (24%), Australia (24%), and South Korea (23%).<\/p>\n

Despite the presence of religious beliefs among the nones, there is also a widespread distrust of institutional religion. Overall, 58% of the religiously unaffiliated believe that religion encourages intolerance. Thirty-five percent, on the other hand, believe that religion encourages tolerance instead.<\/p>\n

Majorities of nones worldwide, in countries like Greece, the US, France, Sweden, Australia, and the UK, say that religion encourages superstitious thinking and hurts society overall. Globally, 68% of nones, on average, believe that religion fosters superstitious thinking, while 53% think that religion is damaging to society.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, when it comes to national life, barely 16% of nones think that it is somewhat or very important for political leaders to have religious beliefs. In contrast, 83% think that it is not too important or not at all important<\/p>\n

While there are often high rates of religious beliefs among the nones, there are also high rates of skepticism towards religion. However, this skepticism, at least from what Pew finds, is not necessarily a philosophical one in the sense of doubting the truth or coherence of religion. Rather, this skepticism is sociopolitical. That is, nones are often wary of how organized religion can cause damage in society.<\/p>\n

One can infer from this study that the world is not entering a post-religion age, but rather a post-institutional age. And religious communities are putting considerable thought into how to reach the religiously unaffiliated.<\/p>\n

The Barna Group, an evangelical Christian research firm, has been reporting on the nones and advising churches for several years, at least since 2014<\/a>. Articles have been written for publications like The Gospel Coalition<\/a> and Baptist News Global<\/a>, offering points for pastors and churches to reach the religiously unaffiliated. The Fuller Youth Institute<\/a>, affiliated with Fuller Theological Seminary, also has its eyes<\/a> on the religiosity of the nones.<\/p>\n

Most of the advice from these voices usually focuses on young adults and their needs for healthy and loving communities. And many of these voices are optimistic, given the levels of religiosity present among the religiously unaffiliated.<\/p>\n

The future of the nones, as well as the place and shape of religion around the world, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

For now, one thing is certain: religion is not going away\u2014it’s only reconfiguring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the 1990s, the number of people unaffiliated with organized religion\u2014the so-called “nones”\u2014has surged worldwide. But while these individuals reject institutional faith, many still embrace spiritual beliefs, from the afterlife to divine presence. A recent Pew study reveals that the world may not be entering a post-religion era but rather a post-institutional one\u2014where belief persists…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":29204,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Rise of the Nones: Disaffiliated But Not Disbelieving<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pew study finds \u201cnones\u201d reject institutions but not belief\u2014many still affirm God, the afterlife, and spirituality worldwide.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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