With prominent church steeples rising every few blocks, a stroll through downtown Portland might give the impression of a city with a healthy religious population. Typing “church” into Google Maps Portland will color your map red with God’s houses by the hundreds. Of course, things aren’t always as they seem in Portland, and despite outward appearances, it’s one of the most secular cities in the country. According to the 2008 PEW Religious Landscape Survey, 27% of Oregonians do not identify with any particular religion, more than any state in the country. Also known as “nones” by the religious cognoscenti, the unaffiliated are a diverse bunch, ranging from atheists and agnostics to people whose “religion is nothing in particular”, to people for whom religion is still important yet do not identify with any particular faith. (See chart below.)
A breakdown of the Unaffiliated. Source: PEW
The decline in affiliation with traditional, organized religion in the United States is a recognized trend, especially among younger people, where 25% of 18-29 year olds are religiously footloose. Compared to previous generations, Millennials are perhaps more wary of authority and certainly have more outlets for community, entertainment and distraction at their disposal. The migration back into the city from suburbia and rural areas, where church has historically played a larger role in fostering community, is yet another cause. These are just a few factors in a multifaceted and complex phenomenon in rapidly changing society.
Although the PEW survey unceremoniously lumps these distinct and not entirely secular groups into a singular mass, at 16.1% of the entire US population, the “unaffiliated” are the fastest growing group in the country. They represent the shifting religious landscape in the US, and perhaps nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced than in Portland, home to a large population of young, idealistic types who are constantly seeking new forms of community and progressive lifestyles.
We don’t tear down the school building when the curriculum changes, so what happens to the church building when people stop attending? In Portland, where recycling is a big thing, they are being repurposed to meet the community’s needs. What was once a church is now home to an experimental dance hall, a bike shop, a theatre or art studios, modified by their owners and tenants as spaces for housing new businesses or side projects. Collectively, the converts come to reflect the personality of the city itself, and may serve as a barometer of an evolving sense of spirituality, community and search for meaning in a city with such a large population of “nones”.
A concert at Alberta Abbey. Photo by Van Pham.
After moving into an old church himself, which he eventually repurposed into an art and music venue, Portlander Matthew Henderson was inspired to document the trend of church conversions occurring throughout the West Coast. His Xhuches project draws attention to the colorful variety of repurposed churches with a website and documentary film. Xhurches is a conversation about the thoughtful reuse of old buildings, the decline in church attendance and how new forms of community are rising to fill in the empty space. Interestingly, not all of the conversions are secular per se. If “spiritual but not religious” describes the disposition of many young people today, it’s no surprise that many of those who repurpose old churches are suffusing their business and art projects with an aura of higher purpose, spirituality or tongue in cheek religious zeal. Portland Bike Temple is one such venture, “a non-profit, pan-faith movement that seeks to heal the world by having fun and deepening people’s relationship with their venerated transportation form.” The next PEW Religious Landscape Survey might only need to peek inside Portland’s old churches to see where religion is headed next.
