It's the Maxwell Institute podcast.

I'm Blair Hodges. If you surveyed Americans asking them to identify themselves as A, Catholic, B, Muslim, C, evangelical, and so on, an increasing number will select the very last option, none of the above.

Study after study has shown a steady decline in religious affiliation, with one in five Americans identifying as none.

Traditional religious believers watch these numbers with a bit of uneasiness,

wondering why fewer people are connecting with institutional religion.

In this episode, Elizabeth Dresher joins us to talk about her new book on this subject,

Choosing Our Religion, The Spiritual Lives of America's Nuns.

Drescher surveyed thousands and directly interviewed around 100 nuns to find out about their backgrounds, their hopes, morals, and spiritual sensibilities.

Her work allows us to become more familiar with some nuns in this episode of the Maxwell Institute podcast.

Send questions or comments about this and other episodes to MI Podcast at BYU.edu.

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Elizabeth Drescher.

He's an adjunct associate professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University.

And today she's speaking with us about her new book,

Choosing Our Religion, The Spiritual Lives of America's Nuns.

Do you mind if I call you Elizabeth?

Not at all.

Okay. Well, welcome to the show, Elizabeth. It's a pleasure to have you on.

Thank you.

So in 2012, the Pew Research Center released this report called Nuns on the Rise. It got a lot of play in the media.

And it proffered that more and more Americans aren't claiming any religious affiliation.

So if they had a list of, are you Catholic, are you Protestant, none of the above would be the answer.

...