No, Politics isn’t Replacing Religion

Neither is spirituality, science, or work

One of the most interesting aspects of Pew’s new report "Modeling the Future of Religion in America,” is how little comment the findings generated. According to Pew, America’s religious future does not include many fewer Christians. They project the number of Christians living in the US to drop to about half the total population or plummet to one-third over the next five decades. A society in which only one of every three Americans is Christian is almost unrecognizable today, and yet it remains a distinct possibility. 

It’s one of eight scenarios Pew lays out in an attempt to predict the transformation of American religion over the next half-century. There are several variables at play—including the pace of disaffiliation, religious retention, birth rates, and patterns of immigration—all of which provide unique sources of volatility and variation. 

What is abundantly clear from the report is that the downward trajectory of religious affiliation is poised to continue. At this point, we seem to have accepted the continuing decline of religious attachment. Well, most of us. This is important because it allows us to have more meaningful discussions about how the waning presence of religion will reverberate across American society and what can be done about it. 

Unfortunately, too often conversations about the future focus on identifying “the thing” that will replace religion. Never mind that a growing number of Americans have never been religious. Many of these arguments are based on the flawed notion that something must invariably fill the void left in the absence of religion.  

Woke Religion 

One of the most popular arguments holds that secular liberals have made politics their religion. In a past article for The Atlantic, Shadi Hamid takes up this argument:  

“On the left, the ‘woke’ take religious notions such as original sin, atonement, ritual, and ex-communication and repurpose them for secular ends. Adherents of “wokeism” see themselves as challenging the long-dominant narrative that emphasized the exceptionalism of the nation’s founding.” 

It’s a provocative idea, but ultimately it fails on several counts. First, most secular Americans are not liberal. According to Gallup, less than half (44 percent) of Americans who are not religious identify as liberal, and this has not changed over the last 20 years. They are also less politically engaged than religious Americans, paying less attention to political news and voting less regularly in elections than members of established religious traditions. Accordingly, their political views are, on the whole, less coherent than Americans who are more regular political participants. 

Jaime Paul similarly suggests that “Wokeness is a political religion.” He argues: 

"It performs the same functions for its adherents as other religions do for theirs. It offers community, moral certitude, confession, being a part of something larger, ecstatic revivalism, the eternal struggle of good versus evil — and most importantly, meaning and purpose.” 

I’m not sure what “ecstatic revivalism” means in the political context, but secular liberals are no more certain in their political beliefs than are religious conservatives and they are more open to political compromise. Finally, very few Americans, including secular liberals—say their political views define them. A 2021 survey found that only 22 percent say their political views are an important part of who they are. 

Spirituality & Science 

Another popular presumption is that spiritual practices, such as yoga, meditation, various mindfulness and new age practices, or supernatural beliefs are displacing more traditional aspects of religious worship. Books like Tara Isabella Burton’s Strange Rites suggest that “today's Americans are embracing a kaleidoscopic panoply of spiritual traditions, rituals, and subcultures—from astrology and witchcraft to SoulCycle and the alt-right.” However, evidence that these practices have become more common is limited, and many of these spiritual practices and supernatural beliefs are as much if not more popular among religious than non-religious people. The most spiritual Americans are also the most religious.  

Science and empiricism are no substitutes for religion either. The scientific enterprise is an effective way of understanding how things work and, in some cases, why they do. But it struggles to provide a coherent set of values or a sense of belonging. Science may explain the origins or inner workings of life, but it falls woefully short of teaching us how to lead good lives. Or, as Andrew Sullivan put it, science provides explanations, but not meaning.  

The Cult of “Workism” 

Another way Americans look to make sense of the world, create connections, and imbue their lives with meaning or purpose. is through their labor. Derek Thompson suggested that for college-educated Americans work is becoming a religion He writes:  

“The economists of the early 20th century did not foresee that work might evolve from a means of material production to a means of identity production. They failed to anticipate that, for the poor and middle class, work would remain a necessity; but for the college-educated elite, it would morph into a kind of religion, promising identity, transcendence, and community. Call it workism.” 

I don’t quite buy that work has become a religion., Rather, I think what’s happening is that more young people are looking to work to provide three essential components of life: purpose, social connection, and structure. In a recent study on the state of American friendship, I found that the workplace is a critical source of social capital, concluding that, "Perhaps reflecting its central place in the hierarchy of American social life, Americans are now more likely to make friends at work than any other way—including at school, in their neighborhood, at their place of worship, or even through existing friends.” 

Work also provides an important source of meaning. More American workers want their lives to be devoted to making the world a better place. This is especially true for college-educated workers: more than six in ten Americans with a college education say having a job that allows them to make a “meaningful contribution to society” is personally important to them.  

This trend is also evident in the type of jobs and careers Americans seek. A report by Johns Hopkins finds that nonprofit careers have exploded, noting that, “Between 2007 and 2017, the number of jobs created by U.S. nonprofits grew by 18.6%—three times faster than the country’s for-profit businesses over the same period.” 

That doesn’t mean the workplace is like worship. Rather some workers are seeking, and more workplaces are providing, ways to address fundamental human needs that were once met elsewhere. 

No single institution or ideology can replace religion. But that doesn’t mean that some of what religious congregations provide cannot be replicated elsewhere. A coffee shop is not a congregation, but that doesn’t mean the social benefits they confer are unimportant. Similarly, political activism is an important way to address societal problems and can give people a sense of purpose. We should strive to create as many pathways to personal fulfillment, meaning, and connection as possible while acknowledging their inherent limitations.  

Human experiences are so varied that a society with only one way of meeting basic human needs will invariably leave a lot of people out in the cold. I don’t think secular liberals are intent on morphing their political interests into a quasi-religion, but people who are not connected to faith will reach out to whatever is available to build a full and meaningful life. Today, there are just fewer things to grab onto. That’s a problem.