Minister Studies Why Americans are 'Spiritual but Not Religious'

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081022/minister-studies-why-americans-are-spiritual-but-not-religious.htm

[The Christian Post] 23 Oct 2008--With more Americans describing themselves as "spiritual but not religious," one researcher set out to find what that statement really means.

The Rev. Linda Mercadante, a professor of theology at Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio, conducted research on this growing segment of the American population and found possible reasons why the "spiritual" tend to stay away from the church or religious practices.

"I heard the same arguments over and over again,” said Mercadante, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), according to the Presbyterian News Service.

After speaking to SBNRs (spiritual but not religious) across the country, all of whom volunteered for 90-minute interviews, Mercadante found that many of them are not in the church – or are not religious – because of "stereotypical arguments against organized religion and the claims of churches."

"I don’t know where this script comes from – no one knows any real churches that fit this profile or stereotype," she said, according to the denomination's news service.

Some of the stereotypes SBNRs listed include churches' claim to "exclusive truthfulness – that they have a corner on the truth market;" churches demanding that personal beliefs be abdicated; churches demanding conformity to a "corporate mentality;" and churches professing arbitrary or implausible beliefs, among others.