Resistance to Religion: Thoughtfulness or Trendiness?
I suppose many of us believe that people who don’t see things our way are merely influenced by others, the culture, trends, etc., and don’t think for themselves.
That’s usually a fallacy, but I can’t shake the idea that it’s true of many people today, especially the young, concerning religion. Many who have abandoned religion, I believe, are more influenced by cultural changes than by thoughtful consideration.
Don’t get me wrong. Many people who have rejected religion and belief do so because they have thoughtfully, and often painfully, examined the issues. But I believe many have not, dismissing religion because they feel that it provides no benefit.
Even the Purchase of a Car?
How many study the issue of faith as much as they examine other decisions in their lives – their political affiliation, their job or spousal choice or even their purchase of a car?
And as for the question of whether the abandonment of religion is good for society, I can only ask, “How’s that working out?”
Ross Douthat, one of the authors I read occasionally in the New York Times, appears to think that the desertion of religion does not generally result from a lot of thought. To be clear, he’s not my favorite writer. I think he’s rather hard to read. But he often writes about religion in a way that sparks my interest.
Anyway, he had a recent article in the newspaper called, “Will the Age of Disbelief Last?” Here’s the gist of what he had to say.
Retreat from Authority and Institutions?
What he calls the new atheism “arrived because specific events and deeper forces made the time ripe for unbelief — because the early internet served as a novel transmission belt for skepticism, because Sept. 11 advertised the perils of religious fundamentalism, because the Catholic Church’s sex abuse crisis undermined the West’s strongest bastion of organized Christianity and because the digital-era retreat from authority and institutions hit religious institutions first.”
And, he contends, “the new-atheist idea that the weakening of organized religion would make the world more rational and less tribal feels much more absurd in 2024 than it did in 2006. Existential anxiety and civilizational ennui (weariness, boredom), not rationalist optimism and humanist ambition, are the defining moods of secular liberalism nowadays.
The decline of religious membership and practice is increasingly seen as a social problem rather than a great leap forward. People raised without belief are looking for meaning in psychedelics, astrology, U.F.O.s.”
And, lately, citing the General Social Survey, he reports that the rise of the “Nones” – people who have answered “none” on surveys of religious affiliation – has leveled off.
Wishful Thinking?
Perhaps this is just wishful thinking, or due to some vague nostalgia for belief. But whatever is happening, I wouldn’t want people searching for God to base any return to God on the same foundation that Douthat says is the basis for current unbelief, that is, trendiness.
No, a serious search for God requires some work and much prayer. It requires thoughtfulness, openness to the Spirit, and a willingness to accept the presence of God in our lives. It requires ignoring trends and the idea that religion, because it is ancient or “out-of-date,” has lost its usefulness.
A type of prayer that I’ve occasionally mentioned in this blog, called Centering Prayer, has greatly helped me become aware of God’s presence. It involves a daily period of silence and solitude – 20 minutes is recommended – in an attempt to become more aware of the spiritual side of our lives.
If you would like to know more, Fr. Thomas Keating, a recently deceased Trappist monk and co-founder of Centering Prayer, has many useful videos on the subject on YouTube. Just go to YouTube “search” and type in his name.
