Stephen Bullivant > Quotes

“Naturally, as Luther writes elsewhere, he recognizes that “the name ‘Trinity’ is nowhere to be found in the Holy Scriptures, but has been conceived and invented by man”4 (indeed by Tertullian, as we learned in chapter 4). However, he readily admits that “since we have no better term, we must employ [it].”
― Stephen Bullivant, Trinity, The: How Not to Be a Heretic

“For every one cradle none in the dataset who now has a religious affiliation, there are five who were brought up religiously who now identify as nones. That’s five nonverts for every convert.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“When my husband died, the only reason I could be with him was that he wanted to die at home. Home hospice is no picnic, I’ll tell you. But, at the hospital, COVID meant I couldn’t come visit him. We couldn’t bear that. But when will I get to have a funeral? His ashes are in an urn on my mantel, and there’s been no way to get my family here.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Catholicism after Coronavirus: A Post-COVID Guide for Catholics and Parishes

“Sacramental theology notwithstanding, over a third of all cradle Catholics now no longer see themselves as such. And over half of those, amounting to almost one in five out of everyone who says they were raised Catholic, now say they are nones.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“Across all US cradle Catholics born since 1970, a “Catholic upbringing” has produced twice as many nones as it has weekly Mass-going Catholics.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“Already among under-thirties in the 2018 GSS, for instance, those brought up as nones now claim a religious affiliation at roughly the same rate (27%) as do those brought up with a religion who now claim to be nones (26%).”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“Gallup’s 2020 figure of 20% is moreover, as noted in Chapter 3, toward the lower end of serious polling organizations’ estimates. The others, including our preferred GSS, date the start of the recent uptick several years earlier than do Gallup’s figures.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“Altogether, the Census Bureau’s figures suggest around 93% of American over-14s identifying as Christians in the late 1950s.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“it’s fair to say that America is going through rather a turbulent period in its history. The past eighteen months alone have seen roughly three-quarters of a million deaths from contagion, a tanking economy, serious civil unrest around multiple issues dear to various shades of “left” and “right,” a bitterly contested election followed by a not precisely peaceful transfer of power, a migrant crisis at the southern border, mushrooming conspiracy theories, bitter debates around “cancel culture,” growing anxiety about the power of tech giants, and much else besides.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“[in divinitate enim nullus est sexus].”
― Stephen Bullivant, Trinity, The: How Not to Be a Heretic

“At the start of the twentieth century, “the private statistical sources” available to Max Weber suggested “well below one-tenth (about one-thirteenth) of the population as having no religion,” which works out at roughly 7–8%.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“Gallup’s none needle began to move, fittingly for the first stirrings of a seismic cultural shift, in 1968. From 3% that year to 4% the next, the number of nones soon crept up to a new baseline of 6–9%. It didn’t deviate from this narrow range between 1975 and 2001: a twenty-seven-year run.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“In 1948, Gallup found that 2% of the US population had no religion. Between then and 1967, two whole decades, the proportion of nones in Gallup’s annual polling never shifted from 1% or 2% (Figure 5.1).”
― Stephen Bullivant, Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America

“the doctrine of the Trinity is neither more nor less than the Christian understanding of who God is.”
― Stephen Bullivant, Trinity, The: How Not to Be a Heretic