OPINION & EDITORIAL
American faith not going anywhere
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Also by Wasim Salman:
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by Wasim Salman
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Contrary to common belief, faith is as relevant to the United States today as it ever has been.
Recently the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life asked 35,000 American adults about their faith and found that those who are losing members most rapidly in the American faith war are the Protestant Church, which constitutes roughly 44 percent of the American population, and the Catholic Church, at roughly 27 percent. The survey also suggests that not only is Christianity on the decline, but also those who claim no particular religion are on the rise. America is losing faith.
The failing of belief systems in the United States may be best explained by the French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), who made the case that as societies grow and become increasingly complex, the idea of God must become more abstract in order to be sustained.
For example, if one were to examine the pantheon of Greek gods, one would find that they all had multiple responsibilities in explaining phenomena on earth, i.e., Poseidon and the sea, Zeus and lightning, etc. However, because we have sound scientific explanations for most natural occurrences, our view of God has become increasingly intangible.
The important question to then ask is: Can an advanced, postmodern society sustain its image of a highly abstract God while increasing in complexity, size and scientific knowledge? As long as there are things that remain unknown, the answer is yes.
Applying Durkheim’s logic here, the more we find and know, the less space there will be for faith and for a God in peoples’ lives. But until we know everything, that ever-shrinking domain will have to be maintained. Mankind has always had a need to believe that there is something greater than itself, something humbling.
An example of this need is presented in the Pew Forum survey, where even though Protestant and Catholic Church membership is in decline, other faiths and nondenominational church membership both seems to be increasing. For instance, half of American Buddhists surveyed were white, most of whom had converted.
Faith inside of America is ever-present and will never disappear, no matter how advanced a society it becomes. Faith and, consequently, religion are about adaptability and change. It is highly unlikely that Buddhists 500 years ago could have foreseen their religion as having an impact on any sort of Western cultural and religious landscape. Although America, being the revolutionary ‘melting pot’ that it is, more easily allows this sort of dynamic environment for faith and religion to change, adapt and expand.
This idea of faith and religion as adaptable is fundamental when looking at faith and its perceived decline in the face of increasing knowledge. The Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists and agnostics of today are not those of yesterday. Religion will always resist change in order to avoid potential incongruence among the core belief concepts. However, such resistance to change may also help in explaining why so many Americans have left the Protestant and Catholic Churches for other, more “fluid” faiths such as Buddhism, or for no faith at all.
Development and advancement in society must be met by development and advancement by whatever faith one subscribes to. Faith and religion are not things that are meant to hold still until history renders them stagnant. They are meant to be expanded, explored, tested and developed. I believe this is where we are as Americans right now. We are testing different religions; we are testing our faith and trying new things.
Statistics like those found in the recent Pew study should not be viewed as evidence of America falling into a black, nihilistic void because faith is not chained to evidence. It is supple; it can be molded and altered both by the individual and by the institution. It is always in a state of change. This is the elegance of faith.
Wasim Salman (salman@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in international relations.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 8:00am):
I just watched Jesus Camp....so obviously I find news of an accelerating void of faith very hard to believe.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 9:01am):
You're right, the masses are easily motivated by religion, so it is essential for this string to remain available for politicians to pull.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 9:25am):
Islam shall survive the descent from righteousness to moral decay. Allah is great. I invite all of you to embrace Islam. The Christian and the Jew are falling from grace because their god is a false god. Islam is the true path to eternal salvation. While all the other religions fail to enlighten, Islam will prevail and, God willing, will someday encompass the whole of humanity. The entire earth will bask in the light of God when his wisdom becomes universal.
Allahu-Akbar!
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 12:08pm):
"What does your soul look like? Take a free Kabbalah Personality Test."
Funny that you should put a religious ad on the same page as this article. BTW, Kabbalah is just plain crap. 99% of all Jews reject it as just a lame attempt to mix paganism with mainstream Judaism. Learn and understand.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 1:02pm):
9:25. Allah is a joke and so is your prophet Mohammad. All he did was walk into a desert make up some BS poems and all of a sudden he was great. What a crock...
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 2:11pm):
Join the Campus Crusade for Cthulhu
Why settle for the lesser Evil?
http://www.featherlessbiped.com/6696/cthulhu/cthulhu/
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 2:17pm):
1:02-- sounds like Jesus. All he did was fish.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 3:38pm):
"Contrary to common belief, faith is as relevant to the United States today as it ever has been."
Really? This is a common belief? In a country where the majority of Americans (53%, according to a recent poll) would not vote for an atheist simply because of his/her atheism, 'faith' is commonly understood to be irrelevant?
Faith is under attack in a country where a leading presidential candidate can openly reject science and continue to win primaries? I think faith is doing just fine in this country.
On a side note, I object to the idea that 'losing faith' is analogous to accepting nihilism. Plenty of non-religious people (myself included) find value and fulfillment in life without needing to believe in anything more than we can experience on this planet.
-Corey Sheahan
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 7:38pm):
You address yourself to Durkheim, but you don't even consider the far more powerful argument that faith is more or less inversely proportional to economic and social well-being. Check out the following study, "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies:"
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html
Or, consider the recent study that found that the most prosperous nations--e.g. Sweden, Denmark, Japan, France, Norway, Finland, et al.--are also those with the highest rates of atheism, often having non-believer majorities.
Also, I'm with Corey: the opposition to "not chaining faith to evidence" isn't nihilism; it's reason. The validation of any old arbitrary belief (i.e. faith) without the need for rational justification is itself a clear instance of epistemological nihilism.
Anonymous (February 27, 2008 @ 7:42pm):
"Mankind has always had a need to believe that there is something greater than itself, something humbling."
If you look at religious surveys in Europe you will come to realize that this point is untrue. In places like Norway and Sweden (the most progressive nations in almost every way) the majority of the populations identify as atheist or agnostic. Organized religion is practically dead in all of Europe, even in nations where the church has historically been an important institution (France, Spain, Ireland etc.).
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