Typology sorts people into groups based on religious beliefs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/09/2023 (758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“I don’t really jive with ‘spiritual but not religious.’”

That’s what a friend who has left formal church affiliation posted on social media recently. She is still deeply spiritual. But she didn’t want that description to define her religiosity.

She wondered: Is there another way to describe who she is? Someone who is spiritual, but who, like many others, is no longer interested in institutional Christianity.

A good online discussion followed. A couple people said they liked the idea of being mystics. Two others said their goal was to be known as people who are kind—one cited a T-shirt he saw at a concert that stated: “Kindness is my religion.” That statement, he said, could be taken very lightly at surface level, “but if you really ponder it, there is a lot to unpack there.”

But nobody came up with a new term for someone who is still spiritual but feels outside of the traditional religious structures. At the very least, one said, “the idea of membership (in a place of worship or denomination) has run its course.”

Her question intrigued me. What does it mean to be religious at a time when traditional markers of religiosity are waning?

For a long time, being religious in Canada has been defined by Statistics Canada with four criteria: affiliation (what faith you identify with), frequency of participation in religious activities (going to worship services), frequency of participation in private religious or spiritual activities (prayer or devotions) and the importance of religious or spiritual beliefs in how to live one’s life.

Two of those markers are in steep decline today. Take affiliation, for example. Twenty years ago, 16.5 per cent of Canadians said they were “nones”—not identifying with any religious group. In 2021, that figure had risen to 34.6 per cent, which represents about 12.6 million Canadians.

Since 1985, the proportion of people who attended group religious activities at least once a month nearly halved from 43 per cent to 23 per cent in 2019.

Very few of those who no longer identify with a religious group are atheists. The majority, like my friend, are still spiritual — they still believe in God and many still pray or engage in other private spiritual activities of different kinds. They just don’t feel attached to any religious body and Sunday morning services leave them cold.

One organization that has given this question some thought is the Pew Research Centre in the U.S. Recognizing that traditional ways of determining who is religious and who isn’t no longer fits life in America, it has come up with a new typology, or way of classifying people, to help with that definition.

This new typology sorts people into seven groups based on the religious and spiritual beliefs they share.

The most religious group is what Pew calls the “Sunday Stalwarts.” Not only do they actively practice their faith, but they also are deeply involved in their congregations and attend services regularly.

“God-and-Country Believers” are less active in religious groups but, like Sunday Stalwarts, they hold many traditional religious beliefs. They lean right on social and political issues.

The “Diversely Devout” are diverse in their beliefs, with a majority saying they not only believe in God “as described in the Bible,” but also in psychics, reincarnation and spiritual energy.

The “Solidly Secular” are relatively affluent, highly educated adults, mostly white and male, who tend to describe themselves as neither religious nor spiritual and reject most beliefs. Many do not believe in God or a higher power at all.

“Religion Resisters” largely do believe in some higher power or spiritual force. Members of this group consider themselves to be spiritual but express strongly negative views of organized religion.

“Relaxed Religious” are people who say they believe in God. Many pray daily. But relatively few attend religious services or read scripture and they almost unanimously say it is not necessary to believe in God to be a moral person.

Those who are “Spiritually Awake” believe in God or some higher power, though few attend religious services on a weekly basis.

The advantage of this typology, Pew says, is that it cuts across denominations and faith groups. For example, Sunday Stalwarts take in widely disparate religious traditions such as Protestants, Catholics, Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and others. Meantime, the Relaxed Religious category includes “nones” and also some evangelicals — people who are often considered to be very devout.

These typologies were written for the U.S. They may not reflect the Canadian experience — the God and Country category may not fit at all. But perhaps they can help my friend, and others, come up with a new way of describing where they fit religiously.

So, what religious type are you?

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