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Patricia OƞConnell Killen

Department of Religion
Pacific Lutheran University

Mark A. Shibley
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Southern Oregon University
Ä 
     

v iationwide, the proportion of Americans who

identify with a religious tradition is declining.
v There are regional differences in religious
identity, particularly the proportion of iones.
v Most Americans who donƞt identify religiously
nonetheless cultivate spiritual lives.
v This Ơsecular spiritualityơ is consequential for
public life, sometimes in surprising ways.
Π 
 
 

 
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v The proportion of Americans who reported no

religious preference doubled from 7 to 14
percent in the 1990s.

v Both the General Social Survey (GSS) and the

American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS)
find this pattern.

(Key reference: Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer. 2002. ƠWhy More Americans Have io
Religious Preference: Politics and Generations.ơ American Sociological Review 67:165-
67:165-90.)
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Hout and Fischer test three hypotheses:

M Secularization (progressive loss of belief)
M Demographic (generational shift away
from religious tradition)
M Political (liberals are leaving church in
reaction to Christian Right ascendance)
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M Hout and Fischer assume that political sentiment precedes
religious conviction.
M This causal assumption led many scholars and journalists to view
the growing popularity of evangelical Protestantism over the last
quarter century as fueled by the cultural politics the Christian
Right. In fact, evangelical Protestantism grew because evangelical
congregations more effectively than other institutions met the
social, psychological and spiritual needs of individuals, not because
it was politically conservative.
(Mark A. Shibley. 1996. Resurgent Evangelicalism in the U.S.: Mapping Cultural
Change Since 1970.
1970. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.)

M People join religious communities for fundamentally religious

reasons (i.e., transcendence, meaning and belonging), and it
follows that they do not join, or they leave, when those institutions
are religiously ineffective.
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v 
#iorthwesterners are twice as likely as
 
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people living in the Bible Belt to claim no religious
preference. (ARIS)
v  
The Pacific iorthwest is the only region of
‰  

the country where a majority of the population does
not affiliate with a religious congregation. (iARA)
v About one-
one-quarter of all Americans identify but do not
affiliate with a religious tradition. More than one-
one-third
of all iorthwesterners are in this Ơgapơ group.

Patricia OƞConnell Killen and Mark Silk. 2004. Religion and Public Life in
the Pacific iorthwest: The ione Zone. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
 
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1 Pacific iorthwest 25
2 Pacific Southwest 19
3 Rocky Mountain West 18
4 iew England 15
5 Midwest 14
6 Mid-
Mid-Atlantic 13
7 Southern Crossroads 12
8 South 11


 
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55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Source: Barry A. Kosmin, Egon Mayer and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification
Survey (iew York: The Graduate Center of the City University of iew York, 2001).
  
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VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV VV

1 Pacific iorthwest 63
2 Rocky Mountain West 48
3 Pacific Southwest 47
4 Midwest 41
5 South 41
6 iew England 39
7 Mid-
Mid-Atlantic 34
8 Southern Crossroads 33


 
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55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
Source: Dale E. Jones et al., Religious Congregations and Membership in the United States 2000: An Enumeration
by Region, State and County Based on Data Reported by 149 Religious Bodies (iashville, Ti: Glenmary
Research Center, 2002). iorth American Religion Atlas, The Polis Center, <http://www.religionatlas.org
<http://www.religionatlas.org>
>
(August 19, 2003).
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v Most people do not participate in religious
institutions and never have.

v Successive waves of immigrants and economic

fortunes shape the religious story.

v There is no dominant religious reference group as

conventionally understood.

v Idiosyncratic backwater or bellwether region?

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v While Ơionesơ are on the rise, there is no

corresponding drop in the percent of the
population believing in God or afterlife.
(Hout and Fischer 2002)

v According to ARIS data, Ơionesơ are

spiritually open even if they donƞt identify
with a religious tradition.
v We identified three specific clusters of secular
spirituality in the Pacific iorthwest.
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ƠDo you agree or disagree that God exists?ơ

Percent answering agree somewhat or agree strongly 66

ƠDo you agree or disagree that God helps me?ơ

Percent answering agree somewhat or agree strongly 53

ƠWhen it comes to your outlook, do you regard yourself asƦ.?ơ

Percent answering somewhat religious or religious 36
55555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555

Source: Barry A. Kosmin, Egon Mayer and Ariela Keysar, American Religious Identification
Survey (iew York: The Graduate Center of the City University of iew York, 2001).
Produced for the Religion by Region Project.
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In the Ơione Zone,ơ many people cultivate spiritual
lives outside official religious institutions.

- iew spirituality

- Apocalyptic, anti-
anti-government millennialism

- iature religion

Over time, this unconventional spiritual activity takes

on institutional form; it is far more than the private
explorations of individual seekers.

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v  

 is a cultural system (shared beliefs and
practices) that makes human life meaningful by
facilitating transcendent experience (encounters with
the sacred) and binding individuals to one another.
v Popular distinction between religion and spirituality is
problematic.
v O

 vs. 

 religion. The degree to
which religious beliefs and practices are
institutionalized and regulated by dominant groups.
v This look at Ơsecular spiritualityơ is really an
exploration of non-
non-official (folk) religion.
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v §xemplary groups, events and leaders:

ƛ §ckhart Toll, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual §nlightenment,

Vancouver, B.C.

ƛ Aquarian Tabernacle Church in §verett, WA

ƛ J.Z. Knight channels the 35,000 year old spirit warrior Ramtha, Yelm, WA

ƛ Annual Northwest Fall §quinox Festival in the woods outside Portland, OR

ƛ Living §nrichment Center, Wilsonville, OR

ƛ Women in Conscious Creative Action (WICCA) in §ugene, OR

ƛ Neale Donald Walcsh, Conversations with God,

God, Ashland, OR

ƛ The Harmonic Convergence, Mt. Shasta, CA

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v Beliefs and practices regarding the sacred:

ƛ To nurture religious experience, practice is valued over doctrine.

ƛ Underlying the hodge-

hodge-podge of spiritual practices is a coherent
worldview: the self is sacred, Ơ§veryone is God. §veryone.ơ

ƛ Read from Heelas (1996) and Walsch on iew Age and iew
Spirituality

ƛ This worldview is dualistic and millennial, as are the views of many

religious movement in times of rapid social change.

v ' 
  To what extent is iew Spirituality becoming more
than an individual quest for self-
self-authentication? As this form of
non--official religion becomes more communal, more church
non church--like,
what will be the consequence for public life?
  


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v §xemplary groups, movements, events and leaders:

ƛ Artic iational Wildlife Refuge, ƠOil Field or Sanctuary?ơ

ƛ ƠSimple Living: The iewsletter of Voluntary Simplicity,ơ Seattle, WA

ƛ Catholic Bishopsƞ pastoral letter on the Columbia River

ƛ Ted Strong, Columbia River Inter-

Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

ƛ Peter Illyn, Green Cross (born-

(born-again tree-
tree-hugger)

ƛ iative Forest Council, §ugene, OR (secular but spiritual)

ƛ Regional writers: W.Stafford; B.Lopez; G.Snyder; T.Tempest Williams;

U.LeGuin; S.Tisdale

ƛ David James Duncan (quintessential iorthwest nature writer & prophet)

ƛ Cascade-
Cascade-Siskiyou iational Monument
  

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v Beliefs and practices regarding the sacred:

ƛ In the secular environmental movement, nature is sacred. Read

ƠStop the Chainsaw Massacre,ơ iFC

ƛ Simple Living movement is the ritualization of daily life.

ƛ Underlying worldview tends toward dualism and millennialism

and is reflected (and created) in regional literature. Read
Duncan.

v Questions: To what extent is nature religion becoming

institutionalized (official as well as non-
non-official religion)?
How does this folk religion shape public debate over
natural resource management?
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v Ơionesơ are less likely than PCJ to vote,

but if they vote, they are more likely to
be liberal.

v Two examples of secular spirituality in

politics and public life:
ƛ iew spirituality and progressive politics
ƛ iature religion and conflict over natural
resource management
   

 

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Table 4: Voting Behavior in the 2000 Presidential §lection, by Religious Group
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
Protestant Catholic Jewish ione
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Voted 70% 69% 82% 58%

Didnƞt Vote 25 27 5 38
Ineligible 2 4 13 5

Bush 57% 54% 22% 30%

Gore 41 44 72 57
iader 1 1 6 12
Other 1 1 0 2

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
General Social Survey, 2002. iational Opinion Research Center. University of
Chicago.
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v Anti-establishment religion correlates positively
Anti-
with anti-
anti-establishment politics.
v The case of ieale Donald Walsch
Walsch turning
personal transformation into political renewal.
ƛ ƠRe-
ƠRe-igniting the Spirit of America Summit on Values, Spirituality
and Politicsơ (2000)
ƛ The iew Revelations (2002)
ƛ Humanityƞs Team (2003)
ƛ Tomorrowƞs God (2004)

v Secular Left is much smaller and less well

organized than the Christian Right.
  

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Conflict over how to manage the natural environment is

a struggle over core values and what is sacred to people
in the region.

ƛ The prophetic voice (Duncan)

ƛ The sacred in the secular (iFC)
ƛ io Compromise in Defense of Mother §arth
ƛ ƠThe Sacred Treeơ (Chant Thomas)
ƛ iature religion as civil religion in the State of Jefferson

iature religion plays a role in legislative politics and,

through the courts, government administration of
natural resources.
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v Broadening the focusƦ
ƛ Ơ§xtravasation of the sacred.ơ
ƛ What is sacred in the lives of ordinary people?
v The secular but spiritual
ƛ tends toward a dualistic and millennial worldview.
ƛ has organizational structures that are flat,
networked, and more provisional.
v Why it mattersƦ
ƛ The moral and spiritual convictions of Ơionesơ are
expressed in public life, and they help shape policy.