According to the PEW Research Center, about one fifth of all Americans don’t identify with any religion, but call themselves as spiritual in some way.
Sociologist of Religion Siobhan Chandler specializes in the study of this group, which she calls SBNRs or “spiritual, but not religious”. In this podcast, Chandler talks how she herself fits in this group; the subcategories within SBNR; the degree to which this is a global, rather than just North American phenomena, and the meaning of this category’s growth for the society as a whole.
Links:
Spiritual, But Not Religious – Siobhan Chandler’s website
YouTube presentation on SBNR
Chandler’s papers on Academia.edu
Wikipedia’s take on “spiritual, but not religious”
Diversity and Spirituality Network’s website
