Good times make soft men.
Soft men make bad times.
Bad times make hard men.
Hard men make ...
Hard times also drive people to religion which strengthens faith, etc…
The soft part of this are the churches, synagogues and temples. When times are good the churches become morally fat and lazy. This generation of churches and leaders are soft on doctrine, morals and behavioral norms. They lose their faithful as the faithful lose faith in them. It is not the churches fault really. Churches, denominations, dogma et al are creations of man not God. Religious organizations suffer from the same frailties of the flesh that man suffers from. When times get hard man will look towards faith. They will look away from the weak vacillating churches and denominations. They will look for their own answers or seek out a strong faith based doctrine and community.
I did not mention the Mosque. They have not changed their doctrine, dogma or membership requirements for hundreds of years. They have not gone soft….yet. Of course Christianity had hundreds of years on Islam, more time to develop then lose its way so to speak. Islam is projected to flip the tables and overtake Christianity before the next millennium. So when times are really hard and good people look for faith, will they find faith, morals and community, in a Church or a Mosque?