Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America

In this sociological study, Smith (sociology, Univ. of Notre Dame; Religion: What It Is, How It Works, Why It Matters) attempts to explain the contemporary decline in people identifying with religion, particularly Christianity. The book’s data and surveys are grouped by generation, from the baby boomers to Gen Z, with millennials serving as the pivot point. Smith pinpoints the start of the decline to 1991, with the fall of the USSR, when religion (or more precisely, organized religion) was no longer a useful identifier, and traces forward to include the events of 9/11. He also notes other factors that contributed to the decline. Some, such as distrust in institutions in general, were outside the control of institutional religions, while others, such as the Evangelical emphasis on personal faith, were unintended results of Christianity’s successes. Smith also considers how institutional religion began to lose its moral legitimacy through a number of sexual and financial scandals. Smith does not find a trend towards secularism taking over, but rather a spiritual orientation unencumbered by tradition, institution, or dogma.