Does the decline of religiosity in society bother you?

[TheReckoning]

Yes.

[Donerail]

In the abstract, no, but I'm certainly bothered by what they're replacing (or not replacing) it with.

[TJ in Oregon]

As a Christian, of course it does. I believe that people are worse off in a vast number of ways without God in their lives. The most obvious of which is salvation itself, but it also manifests in a decline in ethics and social cohesion in this world too. We've had many thinkpieces from mainstream, often secular or vaguely religious conservatives lamenting the decline of institutions, but they often fail to recognize that our traditional institutions are never going to be rebuilt without the faith underlying them.

[Beet]

Not really. While I wish everyone would follow Christ, the present manifestation of organized religion in modern society adds very little value to society or to people's souls. Perhaps if religious organizations were less defined by social conservatism, and took a greater interest in being a force for good in the world, then their decline would be a greater tragedy. I'm not saying organized religion has to start supporting the Democratic Party or start jumping on every woke bandwagon that pops up the way corporations do, or even change their stance on things like abortion (they can remain pro-life for example), but when you have Evangelicals as the biggest supporters of a moral nihilist like Trump it kind of shows why people aren't attracted to their message.

[Ferguson97]

No, I think it's a good thing.

[Samof94]

Not really. While I wish everyone would follow Christ, the present manifestation of organized religion in modern society adds very little value to society or to people's souls. Perhaps if religious organizations were less defined by social conservatism, and took a greater interest in being a force for good in the world, then their decline would be a greater tragedy. I'm not saying organized religion has to start supporting the Democratic Party or start jumping on every woke bandwagon that pops up the way corporations do, or even change their stance on things like abortion (they can remain pro-life for example), but when you have Evangelicals as the biggest supporters of a moral nihilist like Trump it kind of shows why people aren't attracted to their message.

Exactly. I tend to think people who are very religious tend to have trouble accepting democracy as a thing. Also, I tend to see organized religions as one in the same. I personally find it hypocritical to oppose the Taliban yet want a milder version of what the Taliban have right here.

[Torie]

What bothers me is the decline of community institutions for those who most need them, that they are losing as they segue towards the "hell" of social anomie. I see that up close and personal in my home town. Religious institutions were one of those community institutions. Now their places of worship are largely empty, with a majority of them now repurposed to art venues, or personal residences believe it or not.

[TDAS04]

As a liberal Christian, the trends should bother me more than they should bother evangelicals, considering which denominations are declining fastest.  America is becoming more secular, but the religious population is becoming more fire-and-brimstone.  Seems like there’s little room left for those who want a religious community, but not an oppressive one.  Or at least we’re becoming a tiny minority, looked down upon by both the atheists and the fundies.

[John Dule]

Yes, specifically that it's not happening fast enough.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yes, though less emphatically than most American Christians since I don't have an image of America as being a Christian nation or a force for good spreading the Gospel to the world.

[Torie]

Yes, specifically that it's not happening fast enough.

You need not answer this, but I wonder how much your loathing of religious institutions/leaps of faith, is performance art as opposed to "real," and if "real" just why you would have so much psychological energy invested in the destruction of religious institutions.  It is as if you were abused by, inter alia,  clerics, etc., at some point, but given your most sane and calm adult presentation, I tend to doubt that. So it is either performance art, or something of a riddle.

I say this as a life long atheist, and raised that way. So I had nothing to rebel against, and was always comfortable in my own skin on this issue.

Again, feel free not to answer. My query is personally intrusive, and not something I would normally do, but well, I think you can deal with it appropriately, per your own compass.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

I'm more bothered by what is replacing it.

Brunch?

[John Dule]

Yes, specifically that it's not happening fast enough.

You need not answer this, but I wonder how much your loathing of religious institutions/leaps of faith, is performance art as opposed to "real," and if "real" just why you would have so much psychological energy invested in the destruction of religious institutions.  It is as if you were abused by, inter alia,  clerics, etc., at some point, but given your most sane and calm adult presentation, I tend to doubt that. So it is either performance art, or something of a riddle.

I say this as a life long atheist, and raised that way. So I had nothing to rebel against, and was always comfortable in my own skin on this issue.

Again, feel free not to answer. My query is personally intrusive, and not something I would normally do, but well, I think you can deal with it appropriately, per your own compass.

Sorry, no spoilers.

[beaver2.0]

What bothers me is the decline of community institutions for those who most need them, that they are losing as they segue towards the "hell" of social anomie. I see that up close and personal in my home town. Religious institutions were one of those community institutions. Now their places of worship are largely empty, with a majority of them now repurposed to art venues, or personal residences believe it or not.

Pretty much this. 

[vitoNova]

If I was religious, I would actually welcome it because it would mean less poseurs and pretenders in my "faith."

[Blue3]

No. While I'm Christian, I believe in universal reconciliation. And most of the self-professed "religious" are the biggest obstacles to the most important goals of unconditional love towards all, forgiveness, nonjudgment, active compassion to those in need, etc.

[afleitch]

From a Western European perspective, I can't see how the US moving towards more expected levels of religiosity is going to be 'a bad thing'. The amount of cultural/social/performative religiosity when I've been in the US is very strange to me and even religious UK friends of mine who've been, find it quite clawing.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

It does. When you're the only one in your generation at your own church, yeah, it kinda stings. It's one of the reasons I ever got involved with church in the first place, because the rise of secularism among Millennials and subsequent generations is inevitable and religion is out of style. Or at the very least, idolatry is in style.

Que sera, sera. If you have faith that God will set things right, there's no reason to simply give up.

[S019]

Absolutely not, I am religious, but not overly so, I think less religion in society is a good thing, I've always been skeptical of the idea that religion should be important to society or play a role in it.

[WD]

Very much so. To see less and less people have faith in God, particularly those in my own generation and others, is quite saddening. I’ve always been of the opinion that faith strengthens a community and it’s people, so to see a turn away from that reflects a dismaying change in our society, from my point of view.

[LabourJersey]

Yes, especially since the decline in religious association means a decline in community association.

This is a much greater problem for the US compared to Europe, because I think Europeans have a much stronger sense of "place" and general sense of community compared to Americans. This is anecdotal but my experience with Europeans is that they have somewhat more attachment to their home city/area/region/country that keeps them tethered to the community. America, still having a lot of vestigial aspects of a frontier country, doesn't quite have this outside of some parts (almost totally in the East) and so they need additional things like religion to bond with others.

Basically I think Americans are more likely to be isolated, and a loss of religious communities and the bonding they bring only accentuates isolation for many.

[afleitch]

Yes, especially since the decline in religious association means a decline in community association.

Community association is only beneficial if you're an 'in' group. Religious communities can leave people isolated, even those inside them because by nature there's an exclusivity to them. Indeed what makes US religion strange is that whole parallel religious cultures (alongside or opposing secular culture) from music, film, tv, books etc have been created that some people spend their whole lives in.

If the US is over reliant compared to other western nations on religious community association, then maybe that's a product of how the US practices religion.

[Benjamin Frank]

Has there been an actual decline in religiosity or just a decline in organized religion?  When I see the pseudo Christian religions supporting Trump and the American Catholic Church trying to strong-arm Biden on abortion, I think the decline of organized religion is both, on balance, a good thing, and is something that organized religion has brought on itself.

Organized religions have done a lot of good things as well, so this isn't a bash organize religion thing for me, but looking at the history of the world with the Church being on the side of Kings who fought needless wars and subjugated the average person, and the same thing going on, for instance, in Russia today, there is still a lot that organized religions need to do to save themselves before preaching to others.

[progressive85]

No because religiosity does not correlate with goodness or kindness or even purity... it never has and is certainly does not in today's world.

[Mr. Smith]

It does.

Mostly because it's being replaced by nihilism, apathy, superficiality, sloth, and cynicism...which I s'pose Averroes already neatly summed up...but I just don't believe that brevity is always wit.