Amanda, a 28-year-old Los Angeles resident, used to go to church every Sunday. She still prays nightly and believes in Jesus, but now she has her own rituals. “I’ll chant, or I’ll go to Kundalini (yoga) and meditate with a group,” said Amanda, who did not want her last name used because she’s afraid religious groups will target her. She’s also into crystals. She keeps a bunch on her nightstand and stows a small bag of them in her purse or backpack during the day.
“The energy they hold is this ancient energy,” she said. “It helps your own energy when you work with them, when you’re near them.” Amanda wasn’t one of the respondents in a new Pew Research poll. But she fits right in. The poll shows that beyond a small band of reliably predictable “Sunday Stalwarts,” as the survey calls them, American religiosity is pretty casual, with less than a quarter of Americans attending worship services weekly but nearly all religious groups adhering to some New Age beliefs. READ MORE
