The face of religion in the United States is changing dramatically. Formal religion is constantly evolving but every so often there is a mutation, or set of mutations, so great that a new species is formed. I believe we're at the cusp of one of those changes.
This seismic shift is not going unnoticed. Distinguished theologian Stanley Hauerwas in an article for ABC titled, "America's God is Dying" concludes with an air of doom, "Put as directly as I can, I believe we may be living at a time when we are watching Protestantism, at least the kind of Protestantism we have in America, come to an end." Recently, Christian Evangelical leader Jim Wallis claimed in a CNN article that the Religious Right "is over" because they no longer are able to attract the younger generation. Michael Spencer opened a recent Christian Science Monitor article with the words, "We are on the verge -- within 10 years -- of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity."
The changes aren't just occurring in Protestant religion. The role of women and gays in ministry, the church's position on contraception and biological evolution, the modern viability of celibacy in light of scandals and a host of other questions are seem to have the Catholic Church against a wall with little room to maneuver. "Change or die" seems to be the operative phrase for religion these days.
The reasons driving the evolution are varied and complex but can be summarized, I think, in terms of three main cultural changes.
The first is overwhelming pressure from science and a broad shift toward a rationalist worldview. Atheism has always been a fringe effort in the U.S., but a series of events at the turn of the century helped birth the New Atheist movement. The effort to include intelligent design theories in science curriculum was a major wake-up call for prominent atheists as was a resurgence of religiously motivated terrorist activity in the United States and Europe. The movement has succeeded in establishing the primacy of scientific explanation -- a view formerly confined mainly to the academy -- at the cost of other explanatory models, particularly religious ones.
Things have changed so dramatically and the movement has been so successful, that a physicist of the stature of Steven Hawking felt confident enough to come out boldly and claim that the God hypothesis is no longer needed to unlock the most intractable cosmological puzzles. Hawking believes physics will unify our understanding of the universe and in case his readers miss the point, he wanders outside of his discipline and into theology to assert plainly that God can't.
The second change is coming by way of the tremendous pressure exerted on religion from the flattening of the earth. As the world shrinks, young people are exposed to -- and are easily able to interact with -- others who hold very different worldviews. Kids now have access to a wealth of information about religions other than the one in which they were raised. Brand loyalty no longer is a given when it comes to religion and that's creating a massive shift in what people accept as true about their particular faith and about faith in general.
A Pew study conducted last year earmarked some trends that support this shift. They found that, "young adults are less convinced of God's existence than their elders are today; 64 percent of young adults say they are absolutely certain of God's existence, compared with 73 percent of those ages 30 and older." The personal importance of religion (I understand this as distinct from general spirituality) is declining. "Less than half of adults under age 30 say that religion is very important in their lives (45 percent), compared with roughly six-in-10 adults 30 and older (54 percent among those ages 30-49, 59 percent among those ages 50-64 and 69 percent among those ages 65 and older)." Religion certainly is not dead, but what it means and how it's expressed is evolving.
Finally, and perhaps most significantly, religion is being forced to change from the inside out due to what could crassly be called a services problem: Congregations are becoming dissatisfied with what formal religion has to offer. Believers find efforts to "modernize" shallow and patronizing. While small numbers are turning to more liturgical and morally or socially demanding faiths (opting for Mormon, traditional Catholic and even Muslim communities), many are choosing to leave institutional religion altogether, exchanging it for a more personalized faith -- or no faith at all.
The next decade will indeed be fascinating and an exciting time to observe and engage in this transformation. The metamorphosis we're experiencing not only will affect believers specifically but will have enormous social and political impact on all of us. That's an invigorating thought.
Portions of this post previously appeared on Philosophynews.com
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Of course, western society has thought that before (in the early 20th century, evolution seemed poised to put Christianity away for good). But this article makes a strong case.
http://edge.org/3rd_culture/paul07/paul07_index.html
And religion hasn't been "confronted" with "rationalism" just during the last 10 years, but more like the last 2500 years. Often religion has been the patron of reason and science (the guy who discovered the Big Bang was a Catholic priest).
The author needs to read a little more history (i.e. stuff that happened before 2000, or, imagine, before 1776).
Out of curiosity what do people think about teaching philosophy to high school students?
This is my blog that tracks professional philosophy and gives advice to those who wish to be professional philosophers.
http://philosorapters.blogspot.com/
"The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers."
I guess that must be why there's a picture of a sink full of dirty dishes on the front page. Otherwise, I fail to see the connection between dirty dishes and joy.
Humans are smart, they know when something is dangerous, and they know that survival trumps "belief"
Religion and the Bible just don't "have it" when it comes to guidance on how to live, in fact as many have seen over the past decade religion seems to be at the heart of the divisions that confront the world.
Science and Darwin on the other hand have shown us that Humans, long before religion existed, had to survive by trusting and relying on each other, fossil evidence proves that humans and pre-humans survived broken bones and fractured skulls that they could not have without help.
Darwin and biology also shows us that we are one with the natural world and the natural processes that govern it. We have seen that our culture by way of its religious forces has separated us from nature and each other.
Humans are finally looking for their way back home.
Many consider the development of non-violence as a cultural value during the First Axial Age, so identified by Karl Jaspers, some 2,500 years ago as a significant turning point in human culture.
One of the challenges in assessing the cultural impact of religion is its definition. To many religion is theistic which ignores the large number who identify themselves as religious but dismiss any thought of deity.
As for humans looking for their way back home, it's been there right in front of them for millennia and many have lived there. They just don't make a fuss about it.
Most of the greatest minds of the world had religion. Religion can be a good to society as science can be a good if based on the goldern rule or whatever rule other religions have that suggests the golden rule.
My favorite modern artist is Cezanne and it is interesting to find out in his bio that he was a believer, said the rosary; also interesting to learn that Galileo had a daughter who was a nun and that he was a believer as was Pasteur, the French scientist.
Sure dump bad religion; but not religion.
It is hard enough to be an atheist in our "free" country.
The word "evolving" is a curious choice, because in Europe, religion is fading away by a process of Social Darwinism and attrition. In terms of Natural Selection and the "Survival of the Fittest," it is science and the empirical worldview which are winning the fitness test, and organized religion which is failing to withstand the competition.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said: “We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to provide for the widow, to dry up the tear of the orphan, to comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other or in no church at all, wherever we find them..."
In the long run a religion is not about how you will benefit, but how you will have an avenue to help others. Religon is a boat to get you from shore to shore. You have to paddle too, or it goes around in a circle.
This certainly isn't what southern baptist theologians talk about either.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 5 But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
There is nothing new in believing there is nothing higher than yourself.
Narcissists have been doing it for centuries.