Nones are generally defined as non-religious but spiritual.
We are as large a “religious” group (ironically) as any in America now.

10 THE PURITY MYTH / GIRLS AND SEX / BOYS AND SEX
Jessica Valenti / Peggy Orenstein / Peggy Orenstein

Let’s be real, religion has screwed up sex, sexuality, purity, virginity, and intimacy so freaking much that even reading the words might give you pangs of guilt, anxiety and shame. Enter any of the three books above. If you want to go crazy - which you always wanted to do anyway - read all three. But, at least, read one. If you have kids , definitely read one. Each of them redraws the lines on all of sex and sexuality without the religious overtones and baggage. Yet, each of them carries a strength and power (dare we say morality) that we always wanted and still probably believe in - even if we don’t know how to express it. None of them ignore the problems of religion but, to their credit, none of them ignore the problems of the all-out crazy town either. In fact, maybe things are worse than we want to believe out there. But, maybe there are more solutions than we’re hearing too.

Meanwhile, a 2011 survey of more than 14,500 people revealed that those who had fallen away from religion were more sexually satisfied and felt less guilty about their sex lives than they had when they were believers.

9 THE SCIENCE OF FEAR
Daniel Gardner

If you left religion, you most likely left because of the misplaced power of fear. This is the book for you. It begins with statistics on how many people stopped flying after 9/11 and, as a result, how many more died in car accidents because of their fear. It takes fear and suffocates it with statistics, reality, and direct confrontation. It helps you see it in all the places you always have and all the places you haven’t… yet. It’s an older book but well worth the read and it will save you lots of unnecessary worry and get you focused where we should be.

We have no intuitive feel for the concept of randomness.

8 THE BROKEN LADDER
Keith Payne

In-freaking-equality. America is #1 in the world in the separation between rich and poor and religion hasn’t done much to prevent it. It’s exacerbated it. But we’re past complaining about religion and we’re looking to do something that matters for the humanity we believe in. There are quite a few great books about inequality (The Spirit Level) but The Broken Ladder is a more recent, sometimes refreshing, and sometimes heartbreaking read about what inequality is doing to ALL of us: rich, poor, white, black, christian, atheist… it’s a problem and there are solutions. (Hey Sweden, Denmark, and Norway - yes we see you.)

The second fundamental distinction between conservatives and liberals is their willingness to accept inequality.

7 FACTFULNESS
Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Facts. Ah, those pesky little things. In this case they aren't pesky, they’re beautiful, inspiring, and hopeful. Yeah things aren’t near as bad as we often think and if you’re desperate for some confirmation of all the good things, pick up this little gem. It’s not near as heavy as the Pinker stuff but it carries the same weight: it’s not all rainbows and unicorns but it’s damn good. All kinds of improvements are happening all over the world - and as the Science of Fear says - if we aren’t careful and actually caring about the things we need to care about, we’re going to miss out on much of the good that is going on. Read it, feel better. Obama recommended this one too.

Factfulness, like a healthy diet and regular exercise, can and should become part of your daily life. Start to practice it, and you will be able to replace your overdramatic worldview with a worldview based on facts. You will be able to get the world right without learning it by heart. You will make better decisions, stay alert to real dangers and possibilities, and avoid being constantly stressed about the wrong things.

6 FANTASYLAND
Kurt Andersen

How America Went Haywire is the subtitle... so here’s a hint to the answer: fantasies, especially religious ones, especially the religious ones that founded this country and continue to run it up to this day. Yeah, they are the same fantasies that you probably rejected at some point and they are the same fantasies that are driving much of the politics, polarization and overall frustration with religion we see everywhere. We’re a fantasy addicted nation - even nones - so it’s humbling and powerful. It’s educational, enlightening, and an overall great read.

In other words, America was founded by a nutty religious cult.

5 INSIPID
Ryan Miller : )

Insipid is the only fiction book on the list, but, let’s be real, is it fiction? The premise is that America and much of its thought processes were developed by the “shadow side” of humanity as a grand experiment to see if they could stop the hard and taxing work of “possession” (haha) and put it in a system instead… hint, yes. It worked. It’s working. So well that one of its architects teams up with an atheist pastor in the middle of an affair to tell him all about it and attempt to get him to believe it. And maybe find a fix. It’s fiction in the sense that it’s entertaining, funny, fantastic, and provocative but, by the end, you can’t help but wonder if it’s real.

If you can convince someone that a cage is freedom, they don’t notice the walls. In fact, they call the walls great, beautiful… even blessed.

4 CREATING FREEDOM
Raoul Martinez

This book is unbelievably good. It’s thick and dense and a lot to digest but it dives into it all. Inequality, true freedom, the systems and structures that are holding so many down and some ways to get out. Most importantly, it asks the big questions about human free will and our ability to get out of some of the pits we’ve been handed. We’re all functioning with the brains we were born with and the brains that have been programmed and affected by so many factors that it makes one wonder, what kind of chances some of us will ever have. It’s not depressing - even if it is hard. It’s a necessary read for everyone on the planet today, especially in the West.

The capacity to choose is fundamental to any meaningful notion of freedom, yet it is only a starting point – necessary but not sufficient. Precisely because it is possessed by anyone with a choice to make, the ‘freedom to choose’ is extremely limited. Held equally by slaves and slave-owners, it is compatible with the most insidious forms of control.

3 REVOLUTION
Russell Brand

If there is one person that maybe represents the “nones” more than anyone else, it might be Russel Brand. He’s been through the shit and come out on the other side with a remarkable perspective on life, spirituality, humankind, unity, love and forgiveness. This book might be his best. It’s classic Russel humor sandwiched between pure poetry and jaw-dropping intellectual insights. The audio book is all Russel and might be even better than the written words - but either one will leave you different than when you started.

Aren’t we all, in one way or another, trying to find a solution to the problem of reality?

2 I WANT YOU TO BE
Tomáš Halík

This list is for the nones. So all the classics aren’t on it, even if they are really good. (Anthony DeMello, Rumi, Hafiz, Thomas Merton, Walter Wink, Jacques Ellul, Alan Watts, Rob Bell, Peter Rollins, Richard Rohr, Greg Boyle, etc… yes those are all men sadly… Debbie Blue and Dr. Amy-Jill Levine too - read any of them…) but Tomáš Halík may have beat them all. Is that possible?

Tomáš is Czech Roman Catholic priest and philosopher and this book stands above so many. He finishes the sentence. He goes the distance. He takes it to its logical end and ends up with a love that is not the love that we learned in church, not the love we learned about in the Bible but the love that we always figured was out there somewhere, maybe. It’s stunningly beautiful and, even translated, pure poetry. You will be rejuvenated.

If the lamented “decline of religion” means the disappearance of that kind of religion, then there is nothing to regret; if the oftmentioned “return of religion” means the return of that kind of religion, then there is cause to be afraid.

1 JUST MERCY
Bryan Stephenson

At the end of the day, it’s all talk, lots of words and sometimes so little action. That’s why Just Mercy is #1. This man is living it, whatever it is. It seems really hard, is often suffocating, painful, and unjust, but “it” is always liberating, make-you-cry-grace, and love and justice and all the things we want to believe we can bring to this world. We can. Bryan is. He’s got all the words, but, more importantly, he’s got all the guts and determination and heart to make the words real and lived and impactful. (Gregory Boyle does this too.) So it’s an older book, there is a movie version out now, but it’s perhaps one of the most powerful books anyone can read in 2020 in America. Still. Especially a none.

We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation. Fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn ourselves as much as we victimize others. 

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