As standards of living improve, religious belief will give way to atheism, and atheism's victory over religion will be complete by 2038. So argues Nigel Barber, writing on June 5 in the Science section of the Huffington Post.
Relying on what he calls the "existential security hypothesis," Barber claims that people turn to religion to calm the fears and insecurities caused by economic deprivation. But once their basic needs are assured and they are protected from early death by violence or disease, they become more secure in their daily lives and their need for religion fades.
Mr. Barber professes to offer proof for his thesis, most of it drawn from his own writings; although many HuffPost readers liked what he had to say, I did not find it convincing. My reaction can be divided into three parts.
First, the evidence of modern scholarship points in the opposite direction. The force of faith is growing throughout the world, even in wealthier countries -- with the United States being the best example. Peter Berger, the famous sociologist of religion, once believed in the inevitability of secularization, but changed his mind, even as he notes that religion today has a more individual and personal cast than it did in earlier eras. Mr. Barber should also consult the writings of Robert Putnam, Nancy Ammerman, Robert Wuthnow, and James Davison Hunter; what he will find there is the study of religion's vitality, not its disappearance.
Second, I felt sorry for Mr. Barber, just as I feel sorry for the other champions of atheism who are so intent on demonstrating religion's imminent demise. I have the good fortune every week of sitting at the family table, absorbing the light of the Sabbath candles, feeling my spirits soar and experiencing the pure serenity of sacred time. Without Shabbat, and without the other rituals created by humankind's great religious traditions, how do these atheism-obsessed individuals measure holiness? How do they distinguish the holy in life from the ordinary and the profane?
Third, I marvel at how limited Mr. Barber's intellectual horizons are. The problem is not only that he is incapable of having a religious experience (a matter, of course, that is his business and not mine), but that he and like-minded atheists in his camp seem incapable of imagining that other people might regularly have religious experiences that do not result from poverty and deprivation.
I am a liberal, in both politics and religion. The heart of liberalism is recognizing the pluralistic nature of the human condition and devising a political system that enables us to live democratically with religious and political differences. In its embrace of diversity, pluralism, and religious tolerance, liberalism inevitably promotes humility about the world around us. Seeing how different we are from each other, liberalism encourages us to consider the possibility that there are things we do not know; that we might be wrong about matters such as God and the language of faith; and that even if the language of faith is not our language, it may be the language of others. Thoughtful liberals are almost always curious; knowing that different people recognize different truths, they wonder about those things that others care deeply about and yet are not part of their own experience. They find it natural to put themselves in the place of others, even if the act of doing so does not always lead to understanding.
There are those who see themselves as being in the liberal camp and yet, when it comes to religion, put liberal principles aside. In the academic world, for example, alongside scholars of religion who vigorously pursue knowledge and apply scientific standards to religious studies, there are still substantial pockets of otherwise distinguished scholars who fail to understand religion and, more importantly, fail to acknowledge their own lack of understanding. They see religion as an incidental force in human history, refusing to open their minds to religion and its influence in the same way that they open their minds to other fields of study.
I don't know where Mr. Barber stands on the question of liberalism, but I do know that his sweeping claims on the decline of religion fail to convince, and his argument lacks the humility, imagination and curiosity that a liberal inquiry requires.
Religion is dynamic, important, and very much alive.
Jacques Berlinerblau: Secularism Is Not Atheism
Kate Lemon: The Power of Curiosity
Not the sitting around and feeling secure, spiritual, comfortable that we already know all the answers.
The Rabbi presents atheism as if it a religious or a belief system. It isn't. It is simply description of the non belief in a God or gods.
I certainly know that there is a host of assumptions in this article about atheists and liberal thinking. The first and possibly largest, of course, is confusing religion with spirituality. Or religion with morality. Religions are organized expressions of certain faiths, often with exacting rules of behaviour, so that members can feel part of a cohesive whole but also act in an exclusionary manner while being profoundly judgemental. Outsiders (non-believers) are either pitied or persecuted.
Every religion does this.
Spirituality, on the other hand, even for us atheists, means finding the profound within the special moments of life. For me, these are a baby falling asleep on me, sleeping with the dog, or swimming in a Muskoka lake at sunset. I don't need to believe in god to feel connected to the universe. These moments and others make me feel profoundly happy in my life.
Religion has created many problems in our world. And will again in the future. Even the work of atheists such as Stalin and Mao to eliminate religion and replace it with their state visions celebrates the lure of religion and the need some people have to believe in something larger than themselves.
You pray at the altar of liberalism. Your argument that an atheist is somehow less capable of a rational debate simply because of his inability to be truly liberal is laughable. Upon consuming your intellectual cogitation, I have decided that it tastes like self righteousness and I will now orally defecate. You missed the most important analysis modern atheist thought. Like you, most modern atheists suffer from the intellectual handicap of liberalism and therefore it is difficult to have any type of intelligent debate without first passing some sort of social equality litmus test.
Conservative Atheist
knowlea
Stephen Hawkin: a brilliant scientist, who has a curiosity for how the universe was made and beyond-atheist.
As for humility? No, we don't thank a bearded white man in the sky for everything we have. Instead, we thank our parents for raising us and loving us, especially during the times when it was not easy to love us. We thank our friends, our co-workers, doctors who spent a majority of their time and money to become doctors so that we can be healthy.
Want to try this again, Rabbi?
You really think we don't see the impact of religion on art, architecture, music, philosophy, and ethics, not to mention all the violence that has been done in the name of religion? Believe me, I'm very aware of the force of religion, especially the oppression of people who don't have one. When do you think we'll have an atheist for President? Probably not in my kids, or even my grand-children's lifetime. For all your proclamations that you are an open-minded liberal, I don't see your attempts at understanding what atheists go through. Try going through your life being told that you have no morals or ethics. There are a lot of times when I just don't tell people, even as they sit there telling me all about God and Jesus, and assuming that I'm a believer. I try to change the subject or to "pass" as not being an atheist. Sound fun to you?
What significance is it to claim something is holy or not? I just don't understand the point. Things are what they are. Why do we need to wrap some of them into some form of gauzy sentimentality? Also, I'm hardly "atheism obsessed." It's just how I am. I missed the gene that gives people religious faith. I'll never be six feet tall, and I don't have any religious feelings.
"The problem is not only that he is incapable of having a religious experience (a matter, of course, that is his business and not mine), but that he and like-minded atheists in his camp seem incapable of imagining that other people might regularly have religious experiences that do not result from poverty and deprivation."
You are saying someone is incapable of really feeling something, and then you are condemning them because they can't really understand how you do. If I were black, should I condemn all whites because they really can't feel the impact race-based prejudice? That wouldn't be fair, and you're not being fair to atheists. We just don't get all this religious emotion, and it's our nature to look for logical explanations. Maybe you disagree with his conclusions, but that's no reason to claim all atheists are defective.
What significance is it to claim something is holy or not? Seriously, I just don't understand the point of the exercise. Things are what they are. Why do we need to wrap some of them into some form of gauzy sentimentality? Also, I'm hardly "atheism obsessed." It's just how I am. I missed the gene that all the religious types apparently got that allows you to accept fantasy as reality.
"The problem is not only that he is incapable of having a religious experience (a matter, of course, that is his business and not mine), but that he and like-minded atheists in his camp seem incapable of imagining that other people might regularly have religious experiences that do not result from poverty and deprivation."
I don't. I'm an atheist and I know religious experiences come from mass delusion, and the manipulation of the ignorant by elites.
"They see religion as an incidental force in human history"
I don't. I never underestimate the force of humans to injure maim, torture and kill in the name of religion.
Riiight. As opposed the the humble Christians that have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe and are going to live forever with said creator?
--Imagination,
You got us there. We have no invisible friends.
--Curiosity
Riiight. As opposed to the Christian answer to everything: "GodDidIt."?
This is rather like asking how we measure the strength of the magic field without our thaumometer.
Well gosh, you sure stumped us there.
And I doubt most of them are having any experiences at all. It's simply the love of tradition. The majority everywhere believe the majority religion of their birthplace. Because tradition is a powerful force in all aspects of culture. The same principle or proximity gives McDonalds customers. That doesnt make it the best food.
I understand your frustration at the loutish behavior some atheists direct at believers; can you understand why being callously dismissed in the same fashion frustrates me, as an atheist? And that it makes your arguments sound like special pleading, if not hypocrisy? Most of us atheists know or are related to believers; do you know enough atheists to have an idea of the answers to your questions, or were they rhetorical?
There are many roads to belief, and there are just as many roads to disbelief. If you want to understand us better, talk to us as individuals. If you simply want us to shut up and go away, sorry, but we won't.
Part of the religious popularity in the United States is driven by economic insecurity, we are a nation of workers terrified of losing our jobs.
As for the 'demise of religion', humans have been falling for charlatans and hucksters since the first two decided to share a tree branch. That will not change. We are a species afraid of the dark, a species that feels the need for a 'big daddy in the sky' to take care of us. That will never change.
As for the curiosity argument, what a load! The least curious people on the planet are the devout!
fortunately, the world is bigger than the west, and there are other religions besides those of abraham.
A 2006 study by researchers at the University of Minnesota involving a poll of 2,000 households in the United States found atheists to be the most distrusted of minorities, more so than Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians, and other groups. Many of the respondents associated atheism with immorality, including criminal behaviour, extreme materialism, and elitism.