Latest study offers hope regarding church’s opportunity to reach ‘Nones’

PHILADELPHIA—The percentage of U.S. adults not affiliated with a religion has flatlined at 26% since 2022 after decades of growth, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in its latest release from the 2024 State of the Bible.

But the diverse group of 70 million Americans designated as ‘Nones,’ 10% of whom say they’ve made a personal commitment to Jesus, are reachable by the church, said John Plake, ABS chief innovation officer and State of the Bible editor in chief.

“One of the things that we think is really useful in ministering to people with no religious affiliation is just to recognize that they’re not against you,” Plake told Baptist Press. “And they’re not against the church, or God or the Bible. They’re in this place in between.

“It’s this liminal place in between for a lot of Americans, and that gives us hope that we can reach out to those people and we can communicate the gospel clearly and biblically.”

Researchers aren’t sure why the Nones category grew steadily in the last quarter of the 20th century, spiked three percentage points from 2021 to 2022, and now appears to be stabilizing, Plake said, but he cited a trend of American becoming less religiously brand affiliated, which ABS has documented since the late 1990s.

ABS explored Nones in the seventh chapter of its latest State of the Bible, released Oct. 10. ABS links to an audio interview with Ryan P. Burge, whose groundbreaking 2021 book “The Nones” traces public data from the General Social Survey back to 1972, when only 5% of U.S. adults said they were religiously unaffiliated.

“Dr. Ryan Burge has helped us understand that just because someone says they have no religious affiliation, that kind of doesn’t tell us enough about them,” Plake said. “They’re not all the same group of people.”

Along with the 10% of Nones who’ve accepted Jesus are 25% who are open or curious about Jesus or the Bible. Conversely, 64% of Nones are not curious about the Bible or Jesus, and 40% are hostile to the Bible.

“We’ve been concerned that this movement towards no religious affiliation would then become a further movement towards becoming atheist or people who are really opposed to the gospel,” Plake said, “and we’re not really seeing that.”

Rather, many Nones are still exploring their faith, and others will come to a place of exploration, researchers believe.

Churches can reach out to Nones by recognizing they’re receptive to the gospel at key areas in their lives, including during periods of disruption or when they’re struggling with anxiety or emotional needs.

“As a former pastor, I’m thinking, ‘OK, how can we do church in a way that reaches out to our community,’” Plake said, “’and welcomes people who might be struggling with these issues.’”

Among other characteristics of Nones:

• 7% read the Bible three to four times a year.

• 3% agree “the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it presents,” compared to 38% of the general public.

• 8% say their religious faith is very important in their life today, compared to half of the general public.

• 40% believe the Bible was written to control or manipulate people.

State of the Bible is based on a nationally representative survey conducted for ABS by NORC at the University of Chicago, using the AmeriSpeak panel. Findings are based on 2,506 online interviews conducted in January 2024 with adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.