Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium

Nowadays, United States citizens seek religions in the same way they look for household goods--they go shopping. Speaking to the U.S. consumer-driven culture, the authors demonstrate how the mall mentality affects religious choices throughout the country. For example, consumers like to buy spiritual experiences and ideas instead of buying into doctrine. This is why Buddhism has much more success in the form of books and Zen audio tapes than it does in attracting followers to join an institution. Not surprisingly the baby-boom generation is dominating many U.S. religious trends, especially the evolution of "hybrid religions." For example, disgruntled Catholics may intertwine their childhood roots with the principles of Quakerism, "as seekers separated from their religious heritage search out new expressions of faith."

As for the years ahead? "Two words describe the future of religious denominations--downsized and decentralized." Also, social action and spirituality will probably be more purposefully linked in the new millennium. The authors (one, the editor of Religion Watch newsletter and the other an award-winning religion writer for the San Francisco Chronicle) have assembled what might be the best and certainly the most readable authority on the immediate future of religion in the U.S. --Gail Hudson