Gallup just released a new poll showing that religiosity in the US fell by 17 percentage points in the past ten years–a decline matched by few other countries in the history of their polling data. The US remains below the global median for religiosity but remains more religious than other advanced economies.
As an atheist myself, I’m not about to go dancing on religion’s grave. For one thing, I’m not hostile to religion (though I can be critical of it); for another, I’m not naive about its staying power.
Gallup doesn’t speculate about the reasons for this decline, but that doesn’t mean we can’t!
Here’s my speculation: It’s similar to the phenomenon of the political party that has the White House always losing congressional seats in the mid-terms. Americans are a famously restless bunch. We’re never satisfied with the way things are, and we tend to blame those in power for it. Over the past ten years, the Religious Right has gained enormous power in America, and lots of Americans don’t like what they’re seeing. Roe v. Wade overturned and states outlawing abortion, even when the health of the mother is jeopardized. Unwavering support for a fantastically immoral and increasingly autocratic President. A hostility to science that leads people to shun vital public health measures like vaccines and deny the reality of anthropogenic global warming–both with devastating human consequences.
Basically, the Religious Right has made a bad name for religion. David Brooks, a traditional conservative who converted to Christianity more than ten years ago, recognizes this problem. He published an article today titled How to Replace Christian Nationalism (link gets you behind the paywall) in which he encourages us to go beyond the labels of “believer” and “non-believer.” He writes that this passage from Tomas Halik’s book The Afternoon of Christianity hit him “with the force of revelation”:
“A person’s way of being human is the most authentic expression of their belief or unbelief. A person’s life speaks more about their faith than what they think or say about God.”
As a Daoist, I want to say, “Duh!” but I’m unkind in doing so. I should rather say, “Welcome to the club!” Brooks goes on: “The world is too complicated to have all its truth encompassed by any single tradition — by Christianity, Judaism, Islam or Enlightenment. You can plant yourself in one and learn from them all.”
Preach, Brother Brooks!
He goes on: “Today, we’ve been trained to think in battleground metaphors — believer versus nonbeliever, MAGA versus the wokesters. But if we’re going to get out of this nasty age of ours, we’re going to have to see the world through pilgrimage metaphors instead. . . .[P]eople who see themselves as pilgrims know they are unfinished; they know they are still on a journey that will change them.”
Be a Christian. Be an atheist. I don’t care. Be kind, be true, be humble. You will be a credit to your religion or philosopy.
Questions:
- What do you think is behind the recent drop in religiosity in the US?
- Are you in battle mode or in pilgrimage mode? Or both or neither?
- What was it Jesus said about our enemies?