The starting point of Wuthnow's research was analysis of surveys from the Gallup, Harris, and National Opinion Research Centres comparing subjects who had grown up in religious environments and those who had not. Qualitative research in the form of 200 in-depth interviews was then conducted over a 3 year period. Subjects were chosen by quotas to ensure the desired mix of subjects and the actual interview respondents were chosen through a 'snow ball' technique.

The interview subjects paint a diverse picture of the experiences and spirituality of northern Americans. Mainline and evangelical Protestants (15 denominations overall), Catholics, Jews, Eastern Orthodox, Muslim, Hindu and other traditions were represented. Likewise different ethnicities were present; Anglo-American, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and European-American. Similar proportions of males and females were interviewed (although slightly more females) and subjects' ages ranged from their late teens to eighties. Levels of education and perceived class varied although the majority were middle class. The subject's were asked their life history, the religious beliefs and practices of their parents, grandparents and themselves, and family ritual or customs for special events such as Christmas. The subjects were asked how they thought their backgrounds may have impacted their own spiritual journeys and what had been the nature of their spiritual journeys.

The relevance of such a method of exploring spirituality in the Australian context is clear. With a decline in church attendance it has become increasingly recognised that many activities and programs used in the churches are defunct and new ways of engaging people in spirituality are being sought. By asking people to reflect on the past and the spiritual journey that has led them to their present, insights may be gained as to the nature of contemporary spirituality and how this might translate into appropriate religious activities today.

Childhood Memories

In their reflections and memories, Wuthnow's interviews reiterated the role that home ritual and daily living played in shaping the subjects' sense of spirituality and their values. Parents were key figures in this education and in most instances, while the father was the head of the family, the mother was its spiritual leader:

Mother was usually the instigator of our family get-togethers, worship and prayer (p58).

Mothers encouraged their children to pray and read the Bible. Fathers played the role of master of ceremonies on religious holidays but were often absent due to work or generally less interested in religion. Wuthnow notes that memories often conflated their experience of their fathers with images of God. Children whowere taught that they must please their fathers or be punished tended to see God in the same way. The forms of punishment recorded were sometimes severe enough to be considered abuse by today's standards. Grandparents, prior to the emergence of the nuclear family, were also important and were often remembered for their strict approach to religion expressed through prayer and fasting, for example. Community - religious and or ethnic - was strong as was the sense of belonging experienced, as people were born, married and died within their communities. In some instances, the church was linked to a local beneficiary society providing insurance against work injury and illness in an unregulated, capitalist society with weak welfare provision. Church was not solely about religion but survival in often harsh environments, although this was less apparent to the children of the time.

Subjects often associated religious holidays (such as Christmas and Easter) with certain types of food, presents and relatives. The details of these memories were highly dependent on ethnicity, class and culture demonstrating the diversity of American society. Similarly mass or church or synagogue attendance were entangled in if not dominated by the memories of fasting, shoe polishing, starched clothes and a special family meal after the service. While such things may seem distinct from religion, Wuthnow holds that:

"It is wrong to draw too sharper distinction between the two. Special clothes symbolized a separation between the sacred and the profane, and thus came to be associated with the content of the sacred itself, sometimes to such an extent that memories years later are interwoven with the texts and dress" (pg74-75).

Religious leaders such as ministers, priests and rabbis, were often recalled as ‘the men who spoke over them'. People instead remembered staring at pictures and symbols during long church sermons or at home: a statue of a saint, a mezuzzah, a stain glass window, a painting of Jesus on the cross or an embroidered text. Religious instruction for children whether it was Sunday school, confirmation or bar mitzvah preparation was generally focussed on the rote learning of texts. Many respondents felt that, generally, the Bible stories told left more questions about God, life, death and spirituality than were answered.

Departing and Returning

Reflecting on their adolescence and adulthood, many subjects described their departures from the church as gradual rather than sudden. These shifts were often prompted by conflict with the church over areas it traditionally controlled (alcohol/drugs, gender roles, marriage and sexual activity) and were often assisted by the move to college.

Wuthnow suggests that this conflict was often a result of ‘disjuncture' between two worlds:

"At home one learned to believe and practice in one specific way; at school one discovered the necessity of getting along with people from many different backgrounds (pg231).

This disjuncture developed among people ‘dual vision'. With one set of eyes, they viewed their individual religious or ethnic community with its particular rituals, traditions and values. With the other they viewed broader society in its diversity, common values and need for peace.

(Moreover, ‘anamnesis' was suggested as a possible means by which subject's could recognise that as children, their subordinate role to parents often resulted in a view of God as a parent figure demanding obedience and offering comfort. Wuthnow suggests that by rethinking these memories, adults can come to see God and their spirituality differently. )

In later life, some subjects had returned to spiritual practices, but usually at a lower level of involvement than as children, and not necessarily in an organised form. In Wuthnow's view, the return of subjects to spiritual practice was indicative of their taking responsibility for their own spiritual development as adults. Wuthnow maintains that much of the nostalgia about religion in the past is linked to the fact many people's memories are of the 50's when mothers stayed home with children and assisted the church through volunteer labour. Added to this, many memories are based around holidays, grandparents and food rather than daily practice. Thus while spirituality was a significant part of the past, Wuthnow suggests that today it simply exists in different forms to those experienced by previous generations.

A New Spirituality

The adult spiritual practices of Wuthnow's subjects varied from irregular prayer, a set routine of Bible reading and prayer to the natural integration of prayer into everyday life. Others found their relationship with their husband or even the sound of their children laughing contributed to their spirituality. For one subject, Wuthnow said: "Private spirituality is genuine only if it spills into his public activities (pg 190)" and this was reflected through his personal politics, vocation and community work. For another subject, nature was a powerful source of spirituality. Of a sunrise:

I guess it was a kind or spiritual experience...It gave me a sense that God was real, a sense I'd never had in church (pg 171).

These new versions of spirituality relate strongly to the Australian context. For instance, a National Survey on Christian Education in the Uniting Church comprising around 5,000 people showed that the top 5 contributors to growth in faith were: being in nature, services of worship, home and family, friends and an awareness of God's spirit (CRA & Uniting Education 2000). Other questions about what provided peace, well-being and meaning in life confirmed the importance of nature, family and friends.

Another dimension of the new spirituality illustrated in Wuthnow (1999) was that it was less about denominational loyalty and more about ‘spiritual shoppers' searching for somewhere they felt comfortable. Spiritual practice and not theology, was foremost and people sought to experience a sense of belonging to a community. In some instances, people sought to reconnect with communities which reflected their ethnic heritage, but for others this had little importance.

In a national population survey conducted among Australians by Edith Cowan University and NCLS Research, only 15% of Australians felt that loyalty to one's denomination was important. Likewise, results from the Australian 1996 National and Catholic Church Life Surveys found that in an average week's attendance at church, 7% of attenders were ‘switchers' who had changed denomination within the past five years. Among younger people, the proportion was higher. (Kaldor et. al. 1999).

A further aspect of this new brand of spirituality was an emphasis on valuing diversity. Many of Wuthnow's interview subjects believed that by emphasising commonalities between religious traditions rather than differences, a sense of unity could be created. Even among the fundamentalists interviewed, although it was felt that differences could not simply be dissolved the importance of "getting along" was emphasised. In this sense, a current stream of thought with respect to religious values was that they are essentially about fair dealings with others and treating all people as humans. Ecumenical efforts were the means of demonstrating this unity of values such as in helping the homeless. Thus while some subjects still sought local congregations (sometimes with a particular ethnic heritage) to attain a sense of belonging, it is here that Wuthnow's ‘dual vision' comes to play as spirituality provides a ‘bridge' between local religious communities and the diversity in broader society.

Perhaps the strongest theme among subjects' reflections regarding the present was that the passing on of religious values was critical and this was a task in which parents, grandparents and even schools should play an important role. Again, such an emphasis is supported in Australian data and was highlighted in the 1998 Australian Community Values Survey when the foremost role of the religion and the churches was considered by both attenders and non-attenders to be encouraging good morals (in Kaldor et. al. 1999). Similarly, recent research of school chaplains in Uniting Church schools has also found that most principals and chaplains considered values education to be of foremost importance in the roles of chaplaincy (Hughes 2001).

Some Final Reflections

What does all this tell us? In the recent past contained in the memories of many people today religion was routinised. It was integrated with greater strictness into the ritual and habits of home life. Many more people attended church regularly, prayed and read the Bible. At face value, this presents a (daunting?) picture of past generations with a close relationship to God and strong understanding of the Bible and religion. However, while people's reflections confirm this sense of routine and ritual, it would seem that it was the symbols (a crucifix or starched clothing) and not always the meanings behind them that shaped past religious experience. While sermons and Bible stories offered insights their meanings were often not understood. These reflections arguably present a much ‘weaker' faith than assumed by first impressions.

Those belonging to these former generations correctly maintain that the new spirituality lacks the strictness, ritual and routinisation of the past. Instead it focuses more on the experiences of every day life: a sunset or relationships with ones children. An important function of church is still community and belonging but greater ‘choice' enables people to shop for their religious niche. The importance of denominational loyalty has declined as people emphasise common values over doctrinal beliefs and the most important function of religion is moral education as opposed to religious beliefs based on a specific theology. While these are all legitimate concerns, this could be seen as a washed out kind of religion with no clear outlines or substance. It is hard to distinguish between ‘being a good, tolerant person,' and what constitutes spiritual practice. On one hand, perhaps a more holistic view of religion as daily living is needed. A spirituality in which seeing God in a sunset is as legitimate as attending church or talking to ones children about school. On the other hand, without a clear outline of religious belief, practice and what this can entail, the church may become redundant. At the same time this new spirituality could risk becoming, everything and anything and perhaps nothing.

Sharon Bond

References

Philip Hughes and Sharon Bond (2001) Chaplaincy Report, Uniting Education and the Christian Research Association, Ringwood.

Philip Hughes and Sharon Bond (2000) National Survey on Christian Education in the Uniting Church, CRA, Ringwood.

Peter Kaldor, Robert Dixon, Ruth Powell and the NCLS team (1999) Taking Stock: A Profile of Australian Church Attenders, OpenBook Publishers, Adelaide.

Robert Wuthnow (1999) Growing Up Religious: Christians and Jews and Their Journeys of Faith, Beacon Press, Boston.