Good Associated Press article on the "Nones"

 The best parts of the piece are two, in my opinion.

The first is, contra Gnu Atheists, this:

They’re the atheists, the agnostics, the “nothing in particular.” Many are “spiritual but not religious,” and some are neither or both. They span class, gender, age, race and ethnicity.

Reinforced by this from Pastor Ryan Burge, a religious scholar and, if you will, a scholar of the Nones with a book on them:

“All the media attention is on atheists and agnostics, when most nones are not atheist or agnostic,” Burge said. 

Many embrace a range of spiritual beliefs — from God, prayer and heaven to karma, reincarnation, astrology or energy in crystals. 

“They are definitely not as turned off to religion as atheists and agnostics are,” Burge said. “They practice their own type of spirituality, many of them.”

That goes on to mention a "higher power," New Agey type beliefs, etc. Or the Twelve-Step movement (although the piece ignores that, in re First Amendment, courts have ruled than AA and NA are religious, and that, if you want to go to an AA meeting as a proclaimed atheist, you'll get a fight).

The piece doesn't go into this much, but for me, the issue of why Gnus try to claim all these people has two channels. I think some "person on the street" type Gnus believe all these people are either atheists or potential atheists just waiting to be deconverted. But, that's being charitable. I know that Gnu thought leaders have long known the reality, and just like Freedom From Religion Foundation wrongly claiming Abe Lincoln was an atheist, it's all about a movement. Claim famous people that aren't true, or else claim movement numbers that aren't true.

In other words, hypocrisy.

Speaking of? That is one of two things that have led most Nones to reject organized religion, the story notes. The other? Money-grubbing. (Gnus aren't total strangers to that one, either.)

That said, the Nones are real, and Christians, especially thought leaders, ignore them at their own religious peril. Burge knows:

“This is not just some academic exercise for me,” said Burge, who pastors a dwindling American Baptist church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. It’s “what I’ve seen every single Sunday of my life the last 16 years.”

Catholics? Declining as fast as old mainline Protestants. Fundagelicals may not be declining as fast, but they are, too. Look at the Southern Baptist Convention. Independent megachurches are just stealing from denominations like them.

And, it's not just a big-city deal. Mount Vernon is a small town, and the piece ends with noting that Nones are growing in even smaller places.