{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Church Answers","provider_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com","title":"Trading Faith for Nothing: What Americans Are Really Doing After Leaving Church | Church Answers","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"3iiwZLGZff\"><a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/trading-faith-for-nothing-what-americans-are-really-doing-after-leaving-church\/\">Trading Faith for Nothing: What Americans Are Really Doing After Leaving Church<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/trading-faith-for-nothing-what-americans-are-really-doing-after-leaving-church\/embed\/#?secret=3iiwZLGZff\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Trading Faith for Nothing: What Americans Are Really Doing After Leaving Church&#8221; &#8212; Church Answers\" data-secret=\"3iiwZLGZff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Young-Woman-Meditating-With-Hands-In-Prayer.png","thumbnail_width":1200,"thumbnail_height":628,"description":"I\u2019m fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with young people on a fairly regular basis. That\u2019s one of the benefits of being a college professor. It\u2019s much easier to keep up with the cultural discourse when you are surrounded by people in their late teens and early twenties. My students are aware of my expertise and often seek to engage in discussions with me about religion, politics, and society. I\u2019m all ears, of course. One thing I hear on a pretty consistent basis from them is that people are rejecting traditional forms of religion and are replacing them with alternative spiritualities. This idea seems to have seeped into the discourse\u2014that many Americans have replaced Sunday morning worship with yoga sessions, astrology, or consulting a psychic on a regular basis. A recent book by Tara Isabella Burton called Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World makes this point exactly. In Burton\u2019s estimation, people are just remixing religion into something that is more personal and authentic to them. Think SoulCycle, not Bible Study. But what does the data say? Are people actually engaging in a lot of these alternative types of spiritual practices? Tony Jones and I asked over 15,000 Americans to review a list of popular spiritual practices and indicate which ones they had participated in over the past 30 days. They could choose as many as they wished or select none at all. Here\u2019s what that looks like."}