In 2014, I read a book called "When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Enough" and thought it was intriguing for the idea that the idea of spiritual, but not religious is not only mainstream now, but also there will come a point where there will be a need for something deeper. As I read reviews and saw some blog posts by the author of that book, I saw she was on to something.

This is why I was excited when I received* Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To by Lillian Daniel to read for review. This is a follow up of sorts to her previous book, but focusing on the rising group of the "nones." The nones are the people who have checked the word "none" under religious affiliation.

Daniel further subcategorizes the nones into 4 different types- no longer, no way, never have, and not yet. She looks briefly at each group and talks about how churches continue to do the same thing to attract these groups, yet don't really understand who they are. She uses a great analogy of a lifelong baseball fan talking to someone who doesn't like baseball or hasn't gone to a baseball game as what the church does for the nones.

Daniel also goes into a type of history of how the nones have begun to emerge throughout all of history. She mixes this history along with her own personal history. This was a good section to bring her theory home.

There were only a few critiques I had about the book, but they were not major. At times I found Daniel got into preacher mode which isn't a bad thing, but it drew away from her point. The other critique was this was super short. We are talking about 130 pages (ebook version). I thought she could have expanded a bit longer on her 4 sub categories.

I should also note that I am a liberal preacher. I make note of this because she is pretty critical of the evangelical conservative church. I wanted to warn my conservative readers about that one.

I gave this one 4 stars.

* I want to thank NetGalley and Faithwords for allowing me to read this advanced copy of the book. I received it from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

"When Lillian Daniel apologized to a total stranger for every bad thing that had ever been said or done in the name of Christianity, he was surprised that she was responsible for all that. "The Inquisition? Don't even raise it, I'm way ahead of you. I was mad about it before you even heard of it, that's how open-minded I am. Salem witch trials? I know! So embarrassing. Can I hang out with you anyway? You're too kind." "Religion is responsible for all the wars in history," they would say, and I'd respond, "You're so right. Don't forget imperialism, capitalism, and racism. Religion invented those problems too. You can tell that because religious people can be found at all their meetings." In this book, Daniel argues that it's time for Christians to stop apologizing and realize that how we talk about Christian community matters. With disarming candor laced with just the right amount of humor, Daniel urges open-minded Christians to explore ways to talk about their faith journeys that are reasonable, rigorous, and real." from Amazon