Youd have to be a amoral misfit or someone badly burned in the realm of faith to dismiss religion and its infinite dimensions. It is hard to ever be bored by where it fits into civilizations and geopolitics and its grip on humans. So much is available everywhere about religion to stimulate thought and to take us far beyond our own particular theology and faith choices.In May, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public LifeForum co-sponsored a dialogue on the topic, Is There A Global Resurgence of Religion? at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The transcript (pewforum.org/events/index.php?EventsID=116) is chocked full of the insights of Ronald Inglehart, a research professor and the chairman of the World Values Survey with the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan.
Some of his assertions are the makings of whole research topics. More people today inhabit the planet with traditional religious beliefs than ever before in history and theres every indication that it will only increase, he notes. That partly explains why the many forces of change bring so much consternation to those bent on preserving the status quo and religious purity. Inglehart muses that, decades ago as a graduate student, intellectuals discounted religion for study because they foresaw it becoming irrelevant and marginal. They were proved wrong.
In America, he sees established religion declining, yet a quite different form of religiosity is emerging. Now religion seems less able to dictate to people how to live their lives. There is a general defiance in such areas as marriage-divorce, birth control or abortion, he points out. Its happening in rich countries where houses of worship continue to lose attendance, despite exceptions. Yet traditional politics have given way to what he calls values-based politics, giving a moral litmus test to political options.
Inglehart contrasts agrarian and industrial societies and how each views the forces of events. Agrarian: Life in a world dominated by nature and all are at the mercy of inscrutable forces beyond your control and the world is in the hands of a benevolent higher power. The industrial worldview says that instead of being at the mercy of the forces of nature, when it gets cold, you turn up the heat. In other words, people are responsible to use their ingenuity and science to just get things accomplished or suffer the consequences.
Theologically, he sees people turning from the old-time religion in which a priest tells you how to live your life to where there is an acknowledgement that religious issues are more relevant and value questions are more central. A central problem is how vulnerable populations have become to demagogues, as cultures clash. Thus it is easier to spur people to fight and hate others. In his research, Inglehart has determined religion means either a whole lot or very little to people. The world varies widely on how people answer the question: Is God important in your life or not? That, in turns, explains how people view authority, national pride and issues that shape society. The researcher spends a lot of time on family and fertility. Secularization and industrial advance, for example, has sharply brought birth rates down, often from five or six per woman to 1.6 in countries like Spain and Italy.
He found that in low-income societies, the young may be just as religious or more religious than the older generation, that the generational shift, if anything, is toward stronger religiosity. So it follows that societies stressing traditional religious values are gaining a bigger share of the worlds population and therefore more influence.They are poised to exert greater pressures on world events, as a result. There is no sign of a decline in religion in the world, Inglehart surmises. Believers with traditional beliefs having far more children are tipping the scale.
Inglehart concludes by saying religion, so deep-rooted and potent, is here to stay as a force. The traditionalists, with absolute and legalistic beliefs, will clash with secularists for legitimacy and dominion. Massive changes are certain, but they will be to the degree that the masses are willing to be dictated to in how to live their lives.
Lawn,
The social gospel churches that espouse politically correct dogma generally based around broad-based tolerance and love with little personal requirements for performance while accepting and encouraging deviant lifestyles are not holding their congregations.
People are hungering for religions that have specific and detailed requirements of conduct with a parental god that has personal expectations of them. Parents who have fair and specific boundaries, rules and expectations raise children best. So are Gods children most attracted to religions that offer such.
Permissive parents are dangerous to any societies longevity. So are permissive religions. People intuitively know that there is only marginal value in them.
It is true that it is conservative religions that encourage higher birth rates with parents that are married and commited to each other.
If The catholic church is so opposed to the destruction of embryos’ they should discontinue their doctrine of the rhythm method where more embryos’ are destroyed every year.