What Is the State of Religion in America?

On 4-26-15, two related papers appeared in the Wall Street Journal addressing this question. The first, “Why the Future of Religion Is Bleak,” by Daniel Dennett of Tufts University, http://on.wsj.com/1Gx3fB2 and, “The Future of Religion Is Ascendant,” by Emilie M. Townes of Vanderbilt University, http://on.wsj.com/1DCuPL9.

In the first case, i.e., that religion is becoming more insignificant in the lives of people, especially in North America and Europe, Dennett points out that one of the largest group of people in the world are the “nones,” i.e., those who claim to have not religion, at all. One out of six Americans is a “none.” The growth of the “nones” seems underway, as the number of people in this group is becoming larger.

As Dennett sees it, the only thing that will reverse this trend is the onset of some global disaster, such as a global plague, a world war fought over oil or water, the collapse of the internet (and thereby almost all of electronic communication), or some catastrophe that causes widespread misery and fear—the soil in which religion historically thrives.

Professor Dennett believes that religion only thrives in societies where ignorance is the main characteristic and that the more people are educated, the more they will reject religion.

In the second article referenced above, Professor Townes points out that human populations have invariably been characterized by religious beliefs. She observes that as world population increases, so too, will religious belief. However, she writes that we, in the West must not measure the growth of religion by what we see in North America and Western Europe. She mentions that by 2050, 38% of the world’s Christians will live in sub-Sahara Africa—up from 24% in 2010. The world population of Muslims will nearly equal the population number of Christians. Thus, by 2050, the Muslim population will nearly equal the number of Christians.

It is a widely recognized fact that organized religion is on the decline in the West; but that must not be confused with the idea that religion (faith) is going away. People are turning away from organized churches; but they still claim to be “spiritual” people. This is evidenced by the rise of small group worship, the booming market for religious/spiritual books, blogs, music, and paraphernalia.

The social power of religion has diminished as it increasingly shares the public imagination with the natural sciences, economics, political science, and rampant individualism; but that does not mean that people do not seek meaning in their lives from religious viewpoints.

What will endure is the human need to find meaning in our lives, to have something beyond ourselves that calls us to some form of higher moral values. For many, the fulfillment of this need is, and will continue to be, the practice of religion and/or spirituality.

We members of the human race need to recognize that the three apostles of atheism are still health, wealth, and power. Life has much more meaning that these. The Christian faith is the only one that can answer the ultimate questions of true-life meaning.