On Our Own

Let’s cut to the chase: no holy book or lack thereof can rewrite the one basic rule we all know from kindergarten – the difference between right and wrong. Every human culture, religious or not, recognizes honesty, kindness and courage as good, and cruelty and lying as bad. Even secular ethics agrees that morality is built from “logic, empathy, and reason” – not supernatural revelation. In other words, you don’t need faith to know murder is wrong.

And yet somehow, we forget that whenever we start squabbling about who worships what. It’s a classic divide-and-conquer trick: get us busy labeling each other as “believers” or “nones,” and we’ll argue among ourselves. Meanwhile the real evil quietly tightens its grip.

Belief Beyond Beliefs

Think about this: roughly 28% of U.S. adults today call themselves religiously “unaffiliated” (atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”). But that label hides more than it reveals. Of those “nones,” only 17% actually say “I’m an atheist”; 20% say “agnostic”; and 63% say “nothing in particular”. In other words, they just couldn’t be bothered choosing a team.

Here’s the kicker: far from all nones are die-hard skeptics. Pew finds 70% of these nones still believe in God or some higher power, and 63% believe in spiritual forces beyond the natural world. They’re not sitting around watching Faith TV together, but most of them aren’t militant materialists either. Indeed, Pew notes that “most nones believe in God or another higher power”, and they generally think religion does some good even as it does some harm. So the “nothing in particular” crowd isn’t exactly plotting to overthrow the moral order – they’re just done picking an organized religion.

Globally, the story is similar: about 1.1 billion people — roughly one-in-six humans (16.3%) — were counted as religiously unaffiliated in 2010. That’s a lot of people who’ve stepped out of the churches and Muslim-mosque crowd (in China, 62% are unaffiliated). But again, they don’t form one solid block with a single ideology. Some are agnostic, some spiritual-but-not-religious, some anti-religious, and many just shrug when asked. All we really see is that huge chunks of humanity refuse the traditional labels.

Divided We Stand?

That’s just fuel for the game of divide-and-conquer. Politicians, pundits and priests (and counter-pundits and counter-priests) love to focus on those labels – “religious vs. secular,” “believers vs. atheist liberals,” whatever. It’s easier to keep folks fighting with one another about ideology than to tackle the real monsters. Imagine two cats furiously hissing over a bowl of milk while a fire rages behind them. That’s us: arguing about dogma while the furnace is getting hotter out of sight.

In truth, whether you call yourself Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist or Pagan, all humans share more than religion can ever capture. We all crave meaning, we all fear pain, we all know empathy and fair play. That should be our unifying truth – the stuff religions tried to name as Godly. You could even say “God” is just a name for the *wholesome energy* of compassion and order. On the flip side, call the enemy “Devil” if you like: it’s the chaos, pain and angry forces that tear people apart and wreck lives. Those aren’t doctrines, they’re daily reality.

When we fixate on scriptures, doctrines and labels, we let the idea of religion become a distraction. And even irreligion can become a distraction: “I’m not religious” is basically saying “I choose this brand of belief,” which is just another label. Pew’s latest survey shows nones themselves are split and confused on these fronts. So it’s not that religion is the only culprit; it’s the *sectarian mindset* that blinds us.

Here’s a funny-but-sad example: plenty of nones say religion “does some harm”, so they sit on the sidelines cheering as others fight it out. Meanwhile, if they don’t get off the bench to do something – well, who’s left to stop the real evildoers?

Key facts about the “nones”:

28% of U.S. adults are now religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular”).

But within that group, only 17% identify as atheist, 20% as agnostic, and 63% as “nothing in particular”.

70% of those nones believe in God or a higher power, and **63%** believe in some other spiritual force – so most nones aren’t die-hard secularists.

Most nones admit that religion does both good *and* harm; they’re not uniformly anti-faith.

Non-religious Americans generally pray and worship less, but here’s the civic irony: as a group the nones also vote and volunteer less than religious folks. (A notable exception: atheists and agnostics volunteer and vote at rates *equal to or above* religious people.)

These numbers show just how muddled the battlefield is. People are drifting from institutions, but they’re not marching toward a new moral utopia either. They’re split between spirituality, skepticism and apathy. In the meantime, half of America (72%) is still in churches or synagogues – maybe arguing about politics in Sunday school. Meanwhile, the 28% outside aren’t exactly organizing a brigade of do-gooders.

God, Evil, and the Real Crisis

Let’s be blunt: whether you wear a cross or a hammer-and-sickle T-shirt, or you describe yourself as “spiritual” or “none,” the world’s problems won’t fix themselves through debate. The true devil is not what your neighbor believes – it’s poverty, injustice, hate and ignorance. It’s the systems and ideologies that funnel money, power and weapons into the hands of a few, while millions suffer. That’s chaos incarnate.

Even “evil” in sacred terms – Hitler, tyranny, violent cults – flourished when people were busy arguing over scripture. The Spanish Inquisition didn’t banish Judas in the first century; it was medieval politics using God as a sword. Nazis weren’t driven out by churches telling Jews to be nice; they marched when people were distracted by petty feuds.

Think of God and Devil as symbols: God = everything that helps us live well together; Devil = everything that tears us apart. If all we do is tweet about beliefs, we might as well be lighting a candle in the rain. We’re like a dog chasing its tail: a lot of motion, not much progress.

Heroes Missing in Action

Here’s the crux: It’s not about who’s right in theology; it’s about who is doing something about wrongs on earth. Pew’s data underlines that alarmingly few people, religious or not, seem to be stepping up. Atheists and agnostics may be well-educated and occasionally ruffled by religiosity, but many Americans are disengaged overall. Pew finds “nones” are less likely than the religious to vote, volunteer or even follow public affairs. (Full disclosure: the atheist/agnostic subset bucks that trend – they’re as involved as anyone – but the big chunk of “nones” who are just “whatever” drags the average down.)

In plain terms: if roughly 3-in-10 Americans have shrugged off formal religion, and they aren’t turning that spare time into civic action, who is? We might grandstand about “God’s will” or “science’s rule,” but nothing changes if our ballots stay uncast and our communities unserved. Meanwhile the bad actors – greedy corporations, tyrants and con men – keep honing their game.

Statistically, religious people do more volunteering on average. It’s not a perfect measure of goodness, but it’s a clue. Pew notes that many Americans worry about religion’s decline and link it with a drop in civic virtue. (Fewer prayer breakfasts, they fear, means fewer office breakfasts for cause planning.) It’s a warning sign that if “nones” drift too far from community life, who will guard the fort?

The Ultimate Warning

Look, this isn’t a pitch for any faith label. If anything, we should ditch the labels. The ultimate issue is: are there enough genuinely good people actually acting on behalf of humanity before it’s too late? The data suggests… not really.

We’ve been too comfortable letting religion vs. irreligion squabbles be the main spectacle. Real evil doesn’t care what we believe. It only cares whether we let it prosper. So, what happens if we let those dark forces fully band together? If hatred stops fighting with ignorance and turns on us? If the chaos in our world unifies under one banner – be it a radical ideology, a tech dystopia, a rogue state or a profit-driven poison – we won’t have time to sort out our differences. There’s no armistice called for infanticide, and definitely no peace treaty for a tumultuous planet.

In baseball, if the bases are loaded and the other team’s about to hit a grand slam, you don’t whisper about earned runs. You swing the bat. Right now, the bases are loaded with greed, apathy, conspiracy and division. If those chains of evil ever fully link up and unleash their power, it’s game over. That’s not a suggestion for tiki torches or torching neighborhoods– it’s a warning call. It’s past time to stop fretting over labels and start doing something about love, justice and truth. Otherwise, we’re gonna be on our own – and not in a good way.