Who Are the "Nones"?

In Acts chapter 17, the apostle Paul eloquently and confidently made the case for the existence of God:22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.    The apostle Paul walked into what might be termed a hostile environment, a setting full of religious people, who worshipped all sorts of things, or nothing at all - the "unknown god".   But, he was intent to indicate the truth of God's Word.   He proclaimed that there was a God, who provided a way of salvation.   When we encounter people who have a misguided religion or no religion at all, we have the incredible opportunity to display the love of Christ personally to them, to enter into conversations, and to point them to a knowledge of the One True God!  Romans chapter 1 outlines some of the characteristics of a society that has increasingly turned its back on God: 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness...  There's a new survey out that I believe will have quite a few people talking, including leaders in the Christian church - it's from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life and the PBS television program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly. 
It shows that the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pacIn the last five years alone - the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults.  Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics, which is nearly 6% of the U.S. public, as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%)

But the survey also finds that many of the country’s 46 million unaffiliated adults consider themselves to be religious or spiritual in some way.   Two-thirds of them say they believe in God (68%). More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58%), while more than a third classify themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious” (37%), and one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day.  In addition, most religiously unaffiliated Americans think that churches and other religious institutions benefit society by strengthening community bonds and aiding the poor.

So, how do we as believers deal with this personally and collectively?   First of all, it indicates that there are various opportunities to share the gospel.  Even though there are many who reject religion or reject God outright, we still find millions that have a spiritual sensitivity - they just need to be guided into the truth of a relationship with Christ.

We can also see that there is a growing trend in society for self-stylized religion.   A little Jesus here because He was a good teacher, maybe throw in some New Age or nature worship, and a little positive mental attitude for our self-esteem's sake.   And, whal-la, we have our own concept of God and religious practice that differs from the Biblical model.

Moral relativism is quite prevalent when it comes to religion.  As one gentleman interviewed by the Washington Post's "On Faith" blog said, “I’m undecided as far as religion is concerned."   He said about five or six years ago, “it came to me that when you look around you got Muslims, Christians, people over in China and people who say that their way of life is built around a certain belief and people who don’t belief that are wrong.  “But who am I say something is right or wrong or whose religion or right or wrong."   And, that's the prevailing attitude in many circles - in the name of tolerance, we accept belief systems that do not line up with the teachings of the Bible.  

As Christians, we have accepted salvation through Christ - and therefore, we accept all of its words as absolute truth - we cannot pick and choose what we want to believe or what we think is right.   And, in our pursuit of Christ, we may encounter some hard truths - but, we hold to the confidence that His way is best, and display that confidence in a compassionate mannter to those who don't know Him.