Opportunities Exist, Says American Bible Society

Can American churches reach Nones, Nominals and Casuals— that is, people who have limited to no interaction with God and church? The American Bible Society, which conducts ongoing research on Americans’ engagement with Christ and the Bible, believes the church can reach many of them.

The organization’s belief is supported by newly released research about the attitudes of so-called Nones, Nominals and Casuals, which you may download here.

The American Bible Society, which publishes annual State of the Bible reports, has been dedicated to sharing the Bible with the world for more than 200 years.

Newest Research: The Nones

The society’s latest research — which has been added as chapter 7 to the organization’s 2024 State of the Bible report – concludes the following about the Nones, according to John Farquhar Plake, PhD, its chief innovative officer and State of the Bible editor-in-chief:

One-fourth of all Americans – the Nones — are unaffiliated with any religion. That is, when they were asked whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or Muslim, they answered “none of the above.”

The 25 percent that identifies as Nones in 2024 compares with 5 percent in 1972. A major shift in data occurred in the 1990s but has stabilized in recent years, the report said.

Part of the shift is real. But a small part may be attributed to non-religious people claiming to have a religious connection they did not have in 1972. At the time, religion and respectability were strongly linked, leading some people to claim a connection that didn’t exist. The strong link has faded, meaning Nones are more willing to be truthful in their responses.

Identifying the Nones

Who are the Nones? Some 43 percent of them are currently unmarried, compared to 51 percent of all Americans. And they are more likely to have never married (42 percent), as compared to the total population (32 percent). It’s also noteworthy that the decline in marriage parallels the increase in Nones.

Going beyond the Christian faith, more men are religiously unaffiliated than the total population, with 54 percent of men identifying as Nones.

And “younger Americans are more likely to be Nones than older Americans,” as 6 percent of Baby Boomers, 33 percent of Gen Z and 37 percent of Millennials identify as unaffiliated, the report noted.

Cities with at least 30,000 residents have much greater concentrations of Nones than suburbs and rural areas (32 percent of medium-to-large cities versus 23 percent and 21 percent of the latter groups, respectively.)

“Cities are often culturally diverse, with a broad array of religious services available. But nearly a third of city-dwellers claim no religious affiliation,” said chapter 7 of the State of the Bible 2024 report.

Geographic location also matters, with only 20 percent of southerners identifying as Nones as compared to 34 percent of westerners.

Nones are slightly more likely (42 percent) to have at least a bachelor’s degree than the general population (39 percent). And 35 percent live in households with income of more than $100,000 a year, which is more than all Christian denominations other than Catholics.

On the flip side, the report found that nearly half of evangelicals, or 49 percent, are practicing Christians. However, only 19 percent of mainline Protestants practice their faith, and even fewer Catholics (16 percent) do so. And more than half of mainline Protestants and Catholics fall into the Nominals category because they are affiliated with the church but rarely attend.

Learn more about chapter seven here.

Other Key Results

Other findings in the report include these:

• One-tenth of the Nones say they have committed to Jesus that’s important to them.
• Another one-fourth of Nones say they are curious about Christ or the Bible.
• And Nones score much lower on measures of human flourishing than practicing Christians in nearly every category.

These results lead Plake to pose this question: “Could the church help (the Nones, Nominals and Casuals) flourish by drawing them into a deeper connection with Jesus, the Bible, and the church community?”

Religion and Human Flourishing

Nones should be thriving. They are better educated than the general population, earn more money, are generally younger and don’t have the stresses associated with marriage and family life.

But when the State of the Bible 2024 researchers looked at scores on happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships, they found that Nones aren’t necessarily happier.

In fact, unaffiliated Americans score “significantly lower than average” on the Human Flourishing Index, Plake said. “This includes reporting lower levels of hope and higher levels of stress.”

He noted that “practicing Christians rank higher in levels of human flourishing, including in metrics related to hope and stress, than non-committed groups of respondents” in the study.

“When considering spiritual vitality, more than half of those considered Practicing Christians are categorized as thriving (52 percent), while only 13 percent are in the two unhealthy categories,” Plake added. “This indicates that faith and regular interaction with Scripture produce a sense of hope and peace not found elsewhere.”

Reaching Nones, Nominals and Casuals

Nones, Nominals and Casuals aren’t necessarily atheist or antagonistic. “They may believe in God, think about Jesus and even read the Bible,” but even so, they don’t connect with any one religious group,” chapter seven of the 2024 survey reported.

Few Nones could accurately be described as “freelance believers, practicing their personal Christianity without landing in any faith community,” the report noted. While 40 percent are hostile to the Bible, the remaining Nones break down as follows:

• 25 percent are curious about Christ/the Bible, but not committed to a faith tradition.
• 25 percent are Neutral.
• 10 percent have committed to Christ.

These findings offer churches and individual Christians opportunities to engage with people who don’t claim to have an active relationship with Jesus, Plake said. This represents “a vast mission field that starts at our doorstep.”

Learn more about these groups here.

What’s Next?

The American Bible Society introduced the State of the Bible series in 2011 and continues to publish new reports describing current research each year. The reports are released one chapter at a time between April and December.

Plake said the organization will introduce two additional chapters to the 2024 report in November and December. The topics will be loneliness and the Bible and philanthropy.