Modern Religions
Modern Religions
One theory of why we suffer so many societal ills these days, from extremist violence to ever-diminishing birthrates, is that people are becoming less religious.
This is a fairly universal trend throughout the wealthy world: religious attendance and self-definition tends to drop as more people become educated, have access to healthcare and family planning services, and have enough money to not feel impoverished.
This downward trend, even absent any judgements about the goodness or badness of any specific religion (or faith-based beliefs in general) aligns with a parallel increase in self-reported feelings of social isolation, a lack of belonging, and even anti-social behavior.
The theory for why is that organized religion has long served as a pre-built community for many people in many countries, and when that touchpoint goes away, fewer people have a consistent social group they can turn to when they need help moving, are going through a breakup, or are otherwise navigating life and its many ups and downs.
A large crowd of gurus, groups, and businesses have popped up over the years, all keen to replace organized religion in the lives of Americans in particular: a group that has traditionally had some type of Christian church at the center of social norms and customs in most areas—but no high-intensity gym chain or dietary supplement-selling organization has managed to fill this gap quite yet.
Here’s a piece about how content (and content creators) sometimes provide pre-packaged belief systems (from crypto to Harry Potter) to community-starved consumers:
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