Posted on 05/31/2011 1:43:39 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Celebrated intellectuals have long predicted the demise of religion in modern scientific society, and a new, headline-grabbing study presented at a Dallas meeting of the American Physical Society claims to demonstrate mathematically that organized religion will be "driven toward extinction" in at least nine Western-style democracies.
One of the study's authors, Daniel Abrams, had developed a mathematical model to account for the extinction of languages spoken by small numbers of people. Another of the authors, Richard Wiener, noted that similar data was available for religious affiliation in some developed nations, and suggested they apply the same model to the waning of religious affiliation.
Of the nations studied, only the Czech Republic already has a majority of its citizens who are unaffiliated with a religion, at 60 percent. But the authors predict that the Netherlands, which currently stands at 40 percent unaffiliated, will reach 70 percent by 2050. Australia, Austria, Canada, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Switzerland will also, claim the authors, see organized religion all but vanish.
Mainstream media outlets eagerly promoted the report, and commentary blossomed in the Christian blogosphere. Some warned that the study pointed to the further deterioration of Western Christendom, while others welcomed a culling-out of nominal believers. Yet there is reason for skepticism about the study itself.
The authors, Abrams explained to CNN, assume two sociological principles. The first points to social networks: It's generally more appealing to belong to the majority than the minority group. The second points to utility: In a country where religion is in decline, there are pragmatic advantages to being unaffiliated with a religion. These forces, the authors argue, will accelerate the growth of the unaffiliated category. The unaffiliated will not necessarily become atheists, but they will not practice their faith within religious institutions.
Yet principles that apply to languages may not apply to religions, where standing in the minority and requiring high levels of sacrifice are commonly associated with religious fervency and not decline. The church that is persecuted today is often resurgent tomorrow. It also seems facile to suggest that the present trends cannot be altered. In the case of Ireland, the authors observed that the proportion of unaffiliated had grown from 0.04 percent in 1961 to 4.2 percent in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available. Extrapolating from 96 out of 100 affiliated to "virtual extinction" seems quite a leap. Throw in the immigration of millions of Muslims into some of these countries, and the rise of new religious movements, and the study's projections begin to seem fanciful.
There was not enough data for the authors to predict the fate of organized religion in the United States, where the census does not ask about religious affiliation. Yet the unaffiliated (scholars call them "nones," for "none of the above") make up the fastest-growing religious category in America. Other studies suggest that many "nones" are evangelicals who do not identify with any denomination or religious label. Yet nondenominational communities of faith are not so much outside "organized religion" but outside the old institutions.
Abrams states that all of the data points toward the growth of the unaffiliated. "I can't imagine that will change," he said. Yet the authors would do well not to weigh too heavily the limits of their own imaginations. Intellectuals throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, figures like Friedrich Nietzsche and Thomas Jefferson and Clarence Darrow, all predicted the imminent demise of Christianity. All were proven wrong.
Faith is a resilient thing. Even if participation in organized religion should decline in the West, it is exploding in the East. And the rise of the unaffiliated may be the prelude to renewal, or may signal the slow and subtle ways in which faith pours out of old wineskins into the new.
Harvard College began as a proudly Christian institution. Its first president provoked a crisis in 1653 when he became a Baptist, and by the early 19th century Harvard was becoming "the Unitarian Vatican." Charles William Eliot, a Transcendentalist whose 40-year tenure as president began in 1869, fully secularized Harvard and blazed the trail for the secularization of countless other Christian institutions of higher learning.
The tug of war between denominational authorities and Christian colleges and seminaries continues even now. The latest instance is Erskine College and Seminary in South Carolina. The question that threatens to divide Erskine from the denomination to which it belongs is arguably the great theological question of the past two centuries: Can the Bible be trusted as fully authoritative and reliable? Erskine is an agency of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church, a small denomination of about 300 conservative evangelical congregations.
The ARP Church has long professed that the Bible as it was originally written was free from error, but over the course of the past five decades Erskine faculty, many inspired by the late Swiss theologian Karl Barth, have often challenged that profession. The "Barthian" or "neo-orthodox" view holds that the Scriptures are a witness to the Word, and this witness becomes the Word of God when the Holy Spirit reaches through the Scriptures to encounter the reader and make God known to him. In this view, the historical accuracy of biblical stories is not assured; what matters is the God who reveals Himself through them. Most evangelicals have worried that this replaces biblical authority with subjective impressions of a mysterious divine encounter.
The ARP Church's General Synod again emphasized inerrancy in 2008 when two Erskine faculty members refused to affirm it and raised questions of academic freedom. The relationship between the denominational authorities and the board of trustees broke down, and legal action was narrowly avoided. Most recently, on April 22, six professors posted an open letter stating that Erskine should no longer tolerate faculty who could not affirm the ARP Church's statements of belief.
Erskine illustrates the precarious position of Christian colleges and seminaries in the landscape of modern higher education. Some professors contend that these are precisely where believers should be free to challenge long-settled beliefs. Yet too often "academic freedom" has actually meant a corrosive and exaggerated skepticism toward religious authorities and traditions. What does a truly faithful academic freedom look like for an institution of higher learning that serves the needs of a specific Christian community? Perhaps Erskine will succeed where Harvard failed to find the answer.
—T.D.
Barth is still wreaking havoc today.
God is dead.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche is DEAD.
God
If you count belief in the climate-change faith-based science hoax as a religion, its growing like crazy.
Science has a lot less to do with declining religion than being a nation of relative wealth and personal security. Human nature tends to credit their own talent and ingenuity for their success instead of God. Hence, they no longer need Him. Conversely, they will quickly blame God for their troubles and failures. The phenomenon is described quite well in the Bible. As the book of Ecclesiastes states,”there is nothing new under the sun”, and the basics of human nature do not change.
I do count Gaia worship as a religious order.
When freedom was proclaimed in Western Europe in 1945, and after the fall of the Soviet empire later, Christianity was insignificant as a belief system throughout Europe. But as it always does, the seed did grow and spread. Sure the numbers are wanting, but still strong. Remember, history reveals Christianity has it greatest spurts in growth during times of persecution
That may indeed represent some of the underlying causes, and may explain why less developed countries are not yet seeing as much of a decline.
But one of the authors of this research paper, Richard Wiener (who is my brother), sees this as more of a networking effect irrespective of specific causes. Just as a language may decline and fade away due to its diminished utility, irrespective of the quality of that language, Richard believes that the same mathematical model can be fitted to the census data for religions in various countries.
Lol, it only took three posts.
Mark 4:19 (New International Version)
19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.
If you’re interested in the “rhetoric” of moral relativism you should check this out.
I just happened to bump into it last night and even though it is somewhat dated, this guy is on his game.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsGNsxcms-c
At the same time, the state will rise to combat the increased crime and general selfishness that will prevail in terms of charity and community spirit.
Of course, that’s a religion in itself (marxism) but who’s noticed except those goody goody Christians?
I can point to personal history and show that dad dropping bombs on fascist heads destroyed them. We can do that again.
Then we send in the 1st Marine Div., the 101st Airborne and 3rd Army to root out the survivors. Then another bombing run to bounce around the pieces.
But I’m sure these leftist cowards would find the idea of bearing arms and meeting on a batlefield “icky.” It’s why they need “useful idiots.”
Keep spouting BS, yellow dogs. Your days are numbered and your places in hell are reserved.
The only demise happening is yours. But...if you want to meet on hillside at sunrise with swords for a duel, let me know, worm.
I am sure there are many contributing factors. No doubt there is a “perception” of diminished utility by many. I am currently chairman of a search committee for a small Southern church. We recently interviewed a ministor who is exceptionally effective at personal evangelism but did not call him. He made some very interesting points.
The first was that he has found young unchurched people hungrier than ever to hear the gospel message. They know things are not right in our culture and they are looking for answers. If done properly, they are very receptive and responsive.
Secondly, he indicated that traditional methods of evangelizing is ineffective to younger generations because most do not know how to communicate with them. Essentially, they offend them and make them defensive before they ever get the chance to share their faith with them. Often times we Christians project the image that we have all the answers; we just seem a little too sure of ourselves. I see that very clearly since I get put out with the garbage some of them spew myself. I have been steadfast in my faith, but I have had much of my life cave in around me. I KNOW that I don’t have all the answers and I perceive that God has worked in many mysterious, and good, ways in my life.
It is wrong to sell Christian faith like a piece of candy off the shelf because that is a lie, and intelligent people realize that. Yet, at the some time, my faith has provided me with an inner strength and inexplicable guidance on occasions in my life. Sometimes it has led to blessings. A number of times it has led me to avoid decisions that would have caused me great trouble . . . most of which were counter to I normally would have done on my own accord. The “utility” of true Christianity will never diminish, though certainly, the numbers of those who find it may dwindle. The REAL problem is that Christians need to take a very close look at what they are “selling” and how they are selling it. IMHO, they are doing a very poor job of communicating the essense of what being Christian really is . . . mainly because they don’t really know themselves.
Could it be that the “researchers” promote and advocate sharia law?
Since my brother is one of the researchers, and our family is Jewish, I know for a fact that is very much not the case.
Ah, a man after my own heart. The sword is a noble weapon, fit for a man defending his honor. The gun? Useful, to be sure, but lacking a bit in honor, in my eyes...
the infowarrior
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