The end of 2019 has come with a soul-searching of sorts. While the politics of America is in an unexpected tribal divergence given the recent good economic performance combined with a world not in major conflicts, there are also undercurrents of religious change that many see as threatening to the established order. Religion in America is on the decline for the last decade, with young people, especially, indicating that they have no particular affiliation, and with the rise of atheism and related thinking in print and online.
Let’s take a look at some of the most recent journalism on the topic. We will start with an example of how, I believe, it contributes to this decline, then segue to some sage survey work and science concerning how people regard these ideas.
The Washington Times is almost always filled with sloppy journalism, editorials, scholarship, and thinking, but here we have quotes suggesting that lack of religious affiliation is “pagan.” (Wrong: paganism was and remains highly religious). Or editorialization that overthrowing “blue laws” is linked to the decline of religious adherence (or, perhaps, a better separation of church and state). Shakespeare’s jokes require biblical understanding? Perhaps some, but many others required (pagan) mythological and historical understanding. The hit list goes on and on: evangelization like in the Age of Exploration? Swords out, anyone?
But this kind of sloppiness reflects mostly a desire to denigrate religious skepticism and project onto it the fears of the religious themselves, at least according to this survey from the Public Religion Reseach Institute, as reported in the Washington Post, which is the anti-Times for some. The Christian religious right sustains a fear of losing their religious freedoms that is not actually desired by atheists or the non-affiliated. Indeed, the survey author ends with:
Their fear comes from an inverted golden rule: Expect from others what you would do unto them.
Other research shows that part of the animosity and fear of the religious arises from an interesting constellation of ethical expectations. Newsweek (and The Conversation) reports, for instance, on a recent study that showed that Americans on dating sites cared little about the religious affiliation of potential partners insofar as those individuals showed an interest in committed relationships, getting married, and having kids. Religion seems to be a secondary proxy for stability in relationships. Perhaps society, too?
Where there is a clash of cultures, we can also point to the critical role of social media as an amplifier of personal and group outrage that is unfiltered by the previous natural limits of geographical and social propinquity. Strong emotions and heady opinions lead to greater attention. Here’s Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell in The Atlantic:
Human beings evolved to gossip, preen, manipulate, and ostracize. We are easily lured into this new gladiatorial circus.
And where the barriers disappear to entering into vast circuses, many are so drawn.
So should we try to re-establish some kind of barriers to this social circus? Would more blue laws somehow help? Regulate social media platforms? I don’t think so. We are just in an era of upheaval that is as unique as every other period of rapid change. We live through it by latching onto proven concepts like human flourishing is a good and oppression is wrong. We prove to one another that kindness is useful. We remain skeptical of quick solutions to complex problems, for they are surely a sign of intellectual mediocrity. We don’t invert the golden rule, but return to it and its original, pagan meaning.
Best to all in 2020!