CHAPTER 5
BUILDING IDENTITY: SOCIALIZATION

Sociologists at Work

Wade Clark Roof
Abandoning "Religion"

Some say that at the end of the twentieth century, Americans are abandoning religion. But according to sociologist Wade Clark Roof, what has happened is not so much an abandonment of religion as a shift in the way religion is practiced.1

Over a period of 4 years, Roof interviewed and surveyed people about their religious values and goals and their visions for the country. He found his subjects in a variety of social settings, including churches, seminaries, folk festivals, airplanes, bars, and ticket lines.

Roof found that only about a third of the people he asked have remained actively involved in organized religion. Another quarter dropped out of organized religion for a while but later returned to some form of institutional involvement. The rest, about 42% of his subjects, remain "dropouts."

Yet even dropouts still admit to a significant amount of religious activity and involvement. Some are what Roof calls "believers, not belongers," people who maintain their religious faith but are not members of an organized congregation. These individuals are likely to express their religiosity privately.

Others are "seekers," individuals who choose either mysticism and New Age spiritualism on the one hand or theologically conservative, fundamentalist religion on the other.

American religion has also become remarkably fluid. People move in and out of organized religion with ease and frequency. According to Roof, about half of all Americans will drop out of active religious participation for at least 2 years. Of those, 80% will return at some point, usually to a church or synagogue.

Consider the religious biography of this 36-year-old man:

- Raised as a Methodist
- Dropped out as a teenager, preferring to play Beatles records rather than go to church
- Attended a Lutheran church for a while
- Dropped out and began attending Buddhist services
- Explored the Baha'i faith and attended its meetings
- Attended spiritual seminars on Judaism and Hinduism
- Currently describes himself as a fundamentalist Christian2

Most people do not try this many different ways of expressing their religiosity. Nevertheless, Roof claims that the people who switch do so not for frivolous reasons but for moral and religious ones. People want results and are willing to search for a comfortable environment in which to express themselves religiously or spiritually.

Many adults in their 30s and 40s have adopted a uniquely noninstitutional, individualistic approach to religion. Although they still turn to organized religion during certain life eventsóbirth, marriage, deathóthey are finding new ways to express their spirituality and traditional human concerns for sharing, caring, and belonging:

Women explore their own spirituality in Goddess groups, but also in home churches; many people, both men and women, find support in adult-children-of-alcoholics meetings and in other 12-step groups but also in evangelical prayer groups; there are meaningful group experiences . . . whether among those spending a week working with Habitat for Humanity or among those exploring the meaning of visualization and dream analysis; there is community and celebration on Jesus Day but also on Earth Day.3

A major restructuring of American religion is under way. People may or may not describe themselves as religious, and they may or may not view themselves as related to existing establishments. But religion, in whatever form it takes, still plays an important role in people's lives.

1 Roof, W. C. 1993a. A generation of seekers: The spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation. San Francisco: Harper.
2 Roof, W. C. 1993a. A generation of seekers: The spiritual journeys of the baby boom generation. San Francisco: Harper. p. 175.
3 Roof, W. C. 1993b. "Toward the year 2000: Reconstructions of religious space." The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 527, 155-170. p. 167.