For more than three decades and notwithstanding its deep absurdity the claim that “America is a Christian nation” has never gone undefended. Yet what does it mean to ascribe this or that religious identity to a nation? If America is a Christian nation, does it have a soul? Was that soul stained .
Something novel happened during this century’s first decade: Social scientists (re)discovered the nonreligious. Call it “reaching critical ma ss” or a “tipping point,” but suddenly quite a few researchers in quite a few places began to focus their attention directly on the nonreligious not just .
It has long been accepted as an article of faith that religion/spirituality (hereafter “R/S”) has a beneficial effect on both physical and mental health. Popular U.S. survey data appears to indicate a positive association between R/S and various indices of mental and physical well-being. However .