Bratmache here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.

In 1972, the number of Americans described themselves as religiously unaffiliated was just

5%.

2018 is almost 24%.

Why is the number of people answering none of the above to the question of the religious

affiliation jumped so dramatically in recent years and what effect will the growth of these

so-called nuns have on society in general?

I guess explores these questions in his book The Nuns, where they came from, who they

are, and where they are going.

His name is Ryan Burge and he's both a pastor and a professor of political science.

In our conversation day, Ryan shares the data on which religions have risen and fallen,

and explains why mainline Protestantism has taken a huge dive, and why the number of

people who have disaffiliated all together from religion has grown to rival the number

of evangelicals and Catholics in this country.

We talk about the role that politics has played in this shift, and the fact that while

people want to chose their politics based on their religion, they now choose their religion

based on their politics.

Ryan impacts the demographic profile of the average nun, breaking it down to the category's

three subgroups, atheists, agnostics, and those who label themselves as nothing in particular.

We interconversation with what the future growth in the nuns may look like, the possible

societal effects of an overall decline in religiosity, and whether younger generations may swing

back to being more religious.

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