Spiritual, but not Religious: Understanding Unchurched America
Over the past 30 years, sociologists of religion have coined the phrase "spiritual seeker" to describe those who are unaffiliated with organized religion but who are nonetheless looking for ways to enhance their understanding of religious questions. Fuller (Alternative Medicine in American Religious Life) observes that these seekers differentiate between spirituality and religion, connecting the former with a privately expressed faith and the latter with the creeds and rituals publicly expressed in religious institutions. These "spiritual but not religious" individuals, Fuller writes, pick and choose elements from a variety of beliefs and practices as they construct an individualized spirituality. While many scholars regard this as a recent phenomenon, Fuller provides a historical survey of America's "nonecclesial religious history" to demonstrate that the impulse toward creating a uniquely personal spirituality has pervaded American religion since colonial times. He ranges over divination, astrology, witchcraft, angelology, Swedenborgianism, Emersonian transcendentalism, mesmerism, Elizabeth Clare Prophet's I AM movement, New Thought and New Age in order to show the historical roots of the fascination with the spiritual apart from the religious. Finally, he contends that the spirituality of the "unchurched" is slowly reshaping the faith of many members of mainstream religious organizations. While there are interesting moments here, notably his lively historical overviews, Fuller's thesis is old news, and he fails to address the growing number of seekers who are returning to religious organizations in search of tradition-oriented faith. Since Fuller's book describes an outdated religious scene, his main point is almost obsolete.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.