Georgia Native Jonathan Merritt On Why Americans Have Stopped Talking About Religion

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In "Learning to Speak God from Scratch," Jonathan Merritt explores the reasons why Americans have stopped talking about religion.

Five years ago, Jonathan Merritt moved from Buford to Brooklyn, New York. Almost immediately, Merritt found he couldn't communicate with the people around him. It was not that they spoke a different language, but rather that Southern Baptist preacher's son — and Emory-educated Master of Divinity — felt unable to have the conversations about faith and spirituality that he had always had in his hometown. Merritt set out to find out if other people in the United States were avoiding conversations about religion. In a survey of 1,000 people, he found that 1 in 5 had not had a conversation about religion in the last year. "On Second Thought" host Virginia Prescott speaks with Jonathan Merritt.

In his new book, "Learning to Speak God from Scratch," Merritt explains why people are avoiding these conversations, and offers his take on reimagining spiritual words to make them relevant today. Merritt joined "On Second Thought" on the line from New York City. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94pqfakt3gU

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