You can call them \u201cunaffiliated,\u201d as in a recent Pew poll, or \u201cnones\u201d\u2014or even just \u201cnot very religious.\u201d A brand new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute divides this group further (and somewhat counterintuitively) into \u201cunattached,\u201d \u201catheists\/agnostics,\u201d and \u201cseculars.\u201d But whatever you call them, this ever-growing cohort of unchurched Americans makes up, at 23 percent, the single largest segment of Barack Obama\u2019s \u201creligious coalition\u201d (compared to the 37 percent of white evangelicals who support Mitt Romney). <\/p>\n
While we have yet to see a \u201cSeculars for Obama\u201d bumper sticker, the unaffliated are clearly having a moment. Media analysis, however, has not gone very deep\u2014there is a story here that goes beyond names and numbers. Recent sociological work from Courtney Bender, Christian Smith, and others does help us understand who the current crop of unaffiliated are and what they do and believe. Yet we have precious little historical understanding of this critical and growing demographic. What are their roots? What religious, cultural, economic, demographic, and political processes shaped their sensibilities, habits, and makeup? <\/p>\n