Chelsea Langston, March 31, 2016

The religiously unaffiliated –“nones”as they are called for short – now make up about 23% of the U.S adult population, according to the Pew Research Center. The “nones”have been on the rise over the past decade, jumping a stark seven percentage points, from 16 to 23 percent, from 2007 to 2014. As Pew’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study makes clear, “Indeed, the unaffiliated are now second in size only to evangelical Protestants among major religious groups in the U.S.”

Moreover, nowhere is this trend more pronounced than among millennials (those born 1981-1996) – 35% of whom self-identify as “nones.” In a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett explores the singular experience of what shapes faith-identity (or lack thereof) for the millennial generation. In an interview with millennial author and public intellectual Nathan Schneider (God in Proof: The Story of a Search from Ancients to the Internet), Tippet says of millennials: “After millennia in which…most human beings in most cultures inherited religious identity almost like they inherited hair color and skin color, you are this new phenomenon of the 21^st century…where you are invited to create your spiritual life yourself.”

What does it say, then, that young adults have perhaps more agency, freedom and resources than ever before to seek out their own faith identity, and so many land, almost by default, on “none of the above”? The impact of the millennial “nones”will continue to unfold over the years to come. Yet, beyond the question of how to re-affiliate and re-engage the unaffiliated and disengaged young adults in institutional faith personally is an essential question: How do communities and institutions of faith communicate to millennial “nones”in a way that resonates with the necessity of protecting the capacity of these faith organizations to continue to live out their most sacred and elemental beliefs, even if they seem irrelevant, archaic or nonessential to young “nones”?

Nathan Schneider’s comments begin to shed light on a possible answer. He says:

“Religious institutions are necessary….but they are necessary to the extent to which they are willing to undertake that paradox that I think is at the heart of any religious tradition: of constant renewal alongside respect for tradition….That is a tension that you see in so many traditions. And that is a challenge that the “nones”amongst us are facing right now. I think…there isn’t a sense of satisfaction with being a “none.”It is isolating.”

The Little Sisters of the Poor case involves the government imposing a mandate requiring objecting religious nonprofits to use their health plans to allow the government to provide contraceptives to their employees. This case now before the Supreme Court provides insight into how it is possible to resonate with those with whom you share little, with how nuns are making a compelling effort to resonate with “nones.” In gripping infographics and comic strips, advocates for the Little Sisters demonstrate that they are able to find relevant vehicles to communicate crucial, substantive arguments to young people of different faiths, or no faith. But while the modern modes of visual communication are themselves impressive, they are really beside the point.

Advocates of the Little Sisters have found creative ways to cultivate a positive public perception for the nuns, even among the “nones”who may disagree strongly with the Little Sisters’religious beliefs. Advocates have done so through examples that get to the heart of the government’s faulty arguments. For example, advocates of the Little Sisters use the comparison of why schools don’t want to offer soda to children in schools: “The question isn’t whether the soda companies offer to pay for the vending machines and the school’s decision doesn’t prevent children from getting soda elsewhere. But the schools don’t want to provide or support something they believe is bad for their kids.”

Furthermore, advocates of the Little Sisters carefully demonstrate that what this religious group is asking for is, simply, space is a pluralist society to abide in their deeply held faith precepts. The advocates repeatedly make clear that the Little Sisters are not trying to impose their religious ethics on the government by stopping the government from providing access to contraceptives or making it illegal. Rather, as demonstrated through clear, concise and compelling language and visuals on the website covering their case, the advocates of the Little Sisters show that these nuns are just trying to live and let live, a value that resonates with nuns and “nones”alike.

The website notes that a full third of women in the United States are not even covered by the HHS mandate, including women employed at Exxon, Pepsi, Chevron and other secular corporations that the government granted an exemption from the mandate to for cost and convenience reasons. Beyond this, the website makes a compelling case for a solution that would benefit not just the Little Sisters, but all uncovered women seeking contraceptive care:

“If the government offered them [preventative contraceptive care] through the ACA healthcare exchange, that would…better meet the government’s goal of providing contraception coverage to women–because the exchanges could provide it, not just to the few women in religiously protected plans, but to the third of American women not even covered by the mandate.”

The advocates of the Little Sisters demonstrate a best practice in their thoughtful, strategic communications that all religious organizations should strive to emulate: that public perception matters. For many religious organizations, smart communications strategy isn’t just a matter of public relations best practices, it’s a faith principle of stewardship. The Little Sisters of the Poor serve out of a calling from God: “By our fourth vow of hospitality we promise God to consecrate ourselves totally to the service of the elderly poor.”Likewise, the Little Sisters and many other religious nonprofits believe that part of their testimony is how they communicate the substance and reason behind why they do what they do. Just as Christ spoke to people in parables and stories that resonated with their real-life experiences, so too do many faith-based organizations feel compelled by their faith to winsomely and carefully communicate with people about why they believe what they believe in a way that is relevant to their audience.

So, are info-graphics to millennial “nones”what parables were to Jesus’s hearers in the time of Christ? Probably not, but it is clear that to be effective stewards of their faith-based missions, faith-based organizations can learn something from messaging that combines a relevant mode of communication along with strategic and substantive content. The Little Sisters and their advocates demonstrate, not just through their service but through their careful attention to messaging, that maybe “nones”will find faith, or at least appreciation for freedom of faith, through some winsome nuns who found info-graphics to communicate theirs.