With church affiliation on the decline in the United States, Dr. Daryl Van Tongeren of the 换妻社区 psychology faculty is leading a new effort to understand the spirituality of those who have left.
He is the principal investigator of 鈥淪piritual Yearning as a Psychological Construct: Associations with Spiritual Struggles and Existential Growth,鈥� a three-year project that has received a $509,623 grant from . 鈥淩ecent studies in the United States have indicated that people are leaving religion in record numbers. We might be seeing the greatest shift in our country in centuries,鈥� said Van Tongeren, who is an associate professor of psychology and director of the college鈥檚 Frost Center for Social Science Research.
As one example, a estimates that the percentage of Americans who are Christians declined from 90% in 1972 to 64% in 2020, with about 30% of the population being religiously unaffiliated and 6% being adherents of all other religions. The study projects that by 2070, the percentage of Christians in the U.S. population will have declined further, to between 35% and 54%.
鈥淪ome people who leave religion have no desire to be spiritual, but some feel like something鈥檚 missing and are still seeking a spiritual connection,鈥� said Van Tongeren, who has been studying people who have been leaving religion for the past five years, and is currently completing a book on the topic for the American Psychological Association. 鈥淲here are people who are leaving religion getting their spiritual needs met? Where are they engaging with the spiritual or divine after leaving religion? We want to see the connections between spiritual yearning and spiritual and religious struggles, as well as the potential for spiritual growth.鈥�
Van Tongeren is pursuing the new project with three social scientists from two universities as co-investigators: Dr. Patty Van Cappellen of the psychology and neuroscience faculty at Duke University; and Dr. Julie Exline of the psychological sciences faculty at Case Western University; and Dr. Joshua Wilt, who is a researcher in psychological sciences at Case Western. Hope students will be involved in every phase of the project as collaborative researchers.
Van Tongeren has been conducting research on the social motivation for meaning in life, religion, and virtues such as forgiveness and humility for several years. His more than 200 publications include the 2022 book 鈥淗umble: Free yourself from the traps of a narcissistic world,鈥� published in 2022; and 鈥淭he Courage to Suffer: A New Clinical Framework for Life鈥檚 Greatest Crises,鈥� which he co-authored with his wife, Sara, who is a licensed social worker, published in 2020.
His work has been supported by numerous external grants, including as a co-principal investigator on another current project funded by the John Templeton Foundation, 鈥淎pplied Research on Intellectual Humility: A Request for Proposals,鈥� which received a $6 million grant from the foundation last summer. He has received multiple national and international honors for his scholarship, including, in 2021: the Early Career Contributions Award from the International Society for the Science of Existential Psychology (ISSEP); being named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science; a 鈥�10 Under 10鈥� alumni award for 2021 from Virginia Commonwealth University, from which he holds his doctorate; and the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award of the Society for the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, a division of the American Psychological Association. In addition, in 2020 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, and in 2019 he was elected a Fellow by both the Midwestern Psychological Association and the International Society for Science and Religion. The APS had previously named him a Rising Star in 2016.
Founded in 1987 and headquartered outside Philadelphia, the John Templeton Foundation supports research and catalyzes conversations that inspire people with awe and wonder. The Foundation funds work on subjects ranging from black holes and evolution to creativity, forgiveness and free will, and also encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, theologians and the public at large. Its aspiration is to help people create lives of meaning and purpose and to become a global catalyst for discoveries that contribute to human flourishing.
With an endowment of $3 billion and annual giving of approximately $140 million, the Foundation ranks among the 25 largest grantmaking foundations in the United States. Its philanthropic activities have engaged all major faith traditions and extended to more than 58 countries around the world.