Religion 107 - Spiritual But Not Religious

The number of Americans who identify as spiritual, but who are not affiliated with any traditional religion, has doubled in the last twenty years. More than 20% of Americans now identify as "spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), and the number is growing. In this course, students will try to make sense of this phenomenon by studying what these Americans practice, such as mindful meditation, ethical eating and forms of political activism. What is their lived experience? What counts as spirituality? Students will engage with primary and secondary sources on American SBNRs and conduct original ethnographic research about spirituality at Smith.