The Retreat of the Puritans

Last week, Irish voters overwhelmingly voted to recognize same-sex marriage. Leave aside, for now, the question whether fundamental rights should ever be subject to popular vote, and consider that Ireland has long been considered a very religious country.

Whatever it may mean to be “very religious” today, for growing numbers of people, it’s clear it doesn’t mean obediently following the doctrinal pronouncements of the relevant clerics. Increasingly, the ways in which people connect with their religious traditions have changed.

Earlier this week, my friend Art Farnsley had an excellent op-ed in the Washington Post, addressing this decline of religious authority. It is well worth reading in its entirety. Art notes the recent, widely-discussed Pew poll showing a decline in the number of Americans identifying as Christian, and suggests that numbers don’t adequately tell the story:

.. behind the story of Christian decline and the rise of “nones” is a long-standing debate about what religion theorists call “secularization,” the broad process by which religion gradually loses its social influence….

By the last two decades of the 20th century, secularization theories were in retreat for a number of good reasons. Most people did not stop being religious in the sense that they still had beliefs, intuitions, feelings and practices they defined as sacred. Modernity had not pushed spirituality out of their lives in America, and maybe not even in Britain or the Netherlands.

As Art notes, whether secularization has grown depends upon how you define the term.

Sociologist Mark Chaves redefined secularization as declining religious authority back in 1994. He suggested we stop worrying about whether individuals thought of themselves as religious and focus instead on religion’s social influence.

The evidence for this kind of secularization, the decline of religious authority, is everywhere. It is quaint to think of a time stores did not open and liquor was not sold on the Sabbath. But that is a small, symbolic change compared with the massive growth in individual choice at the expense of tradition, especially religious tradition.

Understood in this way, secularization is an inevitable consequence of modernity. We no longer see diseases like smallpox as indicators of God’s judgment; we call a doctor. We no longer ask the minister or rabbi to mediate our disputes; we call a lawyer.  For most inhabitants of modern, Western countries, religion is an incubator of values, not the source of binding law. So we have cultural Catholics, social Protestants, ethnic Jews…individuals still attached to their respective traditions who nevertheless feel free to pick and choose aspects of the relevant doctrines.

Change in the role of any social institution is never linear, of course, so we still have a number of the folks I called Puritans in God and Country- the “old time religion” fundamentalists who continue to wage war against religious diversity, women’s rights, same-sex marriage and any effort to grant LGBT citizens equal civil rights.

As Art concluded, they aren’t likely to win that war.

“In the struggle for authority with modern individualism, American religion is slowly losing.” That would be my headline for the recent Pew report. “Christians are declining in America” is just the tip of the iceberg.

23 Comments

  1. I had not heard the term “religious authority” for a very long time. The combination of those two words is what I find to be absolutely repugnant and I suspect many others feel the same way. I am unable to understand what goes on in the minds of people that believe they have the right to use the Bible to condemn others for their beliefs or lifestyle. These same people actually behave in ways that are also condemned by the Bible, but feel they have the “right” to pick and choose which behaviors or beliefs are acceptable and which are not.

    This whole “religious authority farce” is what has driven so many people away from organized religion. It is all about controlling the masses (especially with the fear of condemnation by God) and making sure you contribute money that eventually supports the upper echelon in religious denominations with a very handsome lifestyle.

    I commend the new Pope for the drastic changes he has made not only at the vatican, but by also sending the message to the bishops around the world that they are there to serve the people rather than the people being there to serve them. I surmise there are many bishops and cardinals who would like to depose him for reminding them what their job is actually supposed to be.

    My children were raised in church and both quit attending once they were adults. I quit attending church a couple years ago. I don’t miss it, but I do miss some of the people. When I finally realized that I wasn’t receiving anything from the sermons (but kept attending out of a sense of obligation because that is how I was brought up) it was very freeing to stop going. I have returned 2 or 3 times, but felt very out of place and the sermons and rituals did absolutely nothing for me. Spirituality and a personal connection to God or whatever being one chooses to connect to are really all that a person needs.

  2. Long ago I gave up on organized religion; primarily for the bigoted, racist, segregationist preaching of two Baptist Churches. Got ripped off by a Deacon in another Christian sect when I used him as my attorney. He was later a Marion County Criminal Court Judge. The Methodist Bible stories of my youth became fairy tales in nature to me; some on the level of Greek Mythology. Add in the fact that they all duned me for specified weekly donations no matter my financial situation raising five children and never offered assistance when it was needed temporarily. I never lost my faith or my basic beliefs but formed my own religion which has served me well for many years. A friend described herself as being “spiritual” rather than “religious”; this struck a cord with me and I took it on as my own system. I combined some basic Baptist humanistic beliefs with Jews for Jesus and added some Atheism due to my belief in scientific fact and evolution. Before anyone comments about my Atheism; it is a belief and Atheists have the same depth of faith in science and evolution that creationists hold in their beliefs. True Atheists do not hate God and are not against religion, they just do not agree with it.

    I believe it is organized religion this country has moved away from; not their basic faith in whichever religion they have known throughout their lives. Earl Kennedy once stated that people’s lives are their religon (paraphrased); I agree with this wholeheartedly. This takes us back to Sheila’s earier blog regarding the difference between what people say and what they do. The 1st Amendment was written to keep government out of religion; nothing to protect us from the pseudo religion which has infiltrated this government and they have never seen the dichotomy of beginning many government functions with prayer and/or ending presidential speeches with “God bless America.” I am NOT against either but do question demanding removal of Christian Crosses and posting of the Ten Commandments on government property as giving mixed messages to the public.

  3. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I have always thought that the reason for the decline of religion in Europe was due to the Second World War. There, as opposed to here, the populations all suffered terribly. Their cities were bombed, houses destroyed, farms and villages wrecked, the people went hungry, their children were killed, there loved ones injured and you have to think that they would have looked at the mess and wondered about all those teachings about God’s love. Then there was the horror of the Holocaust and the knowledge that the people who perpetrated and carried it out with the help and silence of thousands were Christians. Christians just like themselves.

  4. That would be my headline for the recent Pew report. “Christians declining in America” is just the tip of an iceberg~Sheila

    Iceberg Phenomenon-That portion of disease which remains unrecorded or undetected despite physicians’ diagnostic endeavors and community disease surveillance procedures is referred to as the “submerged portion of the iceberg.” Detected or diagnosed disease is the “tip of the iceberg.” The submerged portion comprises disease not medically attended, medically attended but not accurately diagnosed and diagnosed but not reported. See A Dictionary of Epidemiology 4th Edition, Edited for the International Epidemiological Association by John M. Last (Oxford University Press, 2001) p. 90.

    Are we sure the Puritans have retreated? I don’t think so.

  5. I don’t know if the Puritans are retreating, but some are changing their names. No longer are some calling themselves Evangelicals. Now they are calling themselves Orthodox Christians. Maybe the Evangelical tag had grown too common and controversial.

  6. As we’ve traveled I’ve read the histories of many ancient empires, and it struck me that populations historically have fought over a lot of things, things that really mattered (or seemed to matter) in their lives, but rarely over religion. In fact, over centuries many gods, prophets, stories, etc. were shared. Along came monotheism, which seemed like a wonderful invention, but then it became a necessity – especially for Christians and Muslims – to either convert or kill the “infidels.” Not that monotheism is such a bad idea, just that so many people take it to mean that there is necessarily dogma that proscribes only one way of thinking and behaving.

  7. I think it bodes well for our nation that young people are walking away from the hatred, bigotry and intolerance that are presented as religion in the US. It is just so unattractive. More thinking…. Less praying. All good.

  8. Marv,

    I like your use of the iceberg analogy. I used that same anology when writing reports for an educational accreditation body. School climate was the tip of the iceberg; what was visible, could be touched, seen, heard. On the other hand the school culture is the 2/3’s of the iceberg submerged, beneath the surface, the unseen, undetected unless one spends considerable time in the school and inadvertently breaks one of those unspoken rules, values, or perceptions.

    I suspect mainstream Protestant churches portray a secular climate for the casual visitor to encourage membership growth; however, becoming a full-time member and attending regularly one will begin bumping into those hidden cultural values. One will be exposed to cliques, small groups who have great sway over the operation of the church and great ease in identifying who’s not following the unspoken rules.

  9. My spouse is a Christian and in fact, was baptized a few years ago as an adult. He doesn’t attend a church because he doesn’t need that. He gets up at 4 am every day and reads his New Testament and tries as hard as possible to live the Word. When I decided to denounce my Christianity a few years ago, he said no problem. To each his own.

    I was thrilled for Ireland. A lesson for all of the world to see. Tolerance is a beautiful thing.

  10. When I was young, when other obligations were done, people gathered. Generally in churches or lodges or family bars. Where I lived, and very generally, more recent immigrants in Catholic Churches and bars, those from earlier immigrations in Protestant Churches and lodges. All those gathering places had rules and enforcement means which were followed because nobody wanted to be judged an outcast.

    TV came along and took the need to intermingle away by replacing real people with make believe people who were more entertaining. As gathering declined so did the moral/cultural authority of tribal councils and people became more inclined towards family and internal rules rather than following. At least outside the workplace. And back then much more happened outside the workplace than today as only a relatively few had to work outside the home and the hours there were fewer.

    As with all change we are both sucked in by it and suspicious of it because what we assumed was a small focused change had much longer tentacles than we imagined.

    So we’ve stumbled into now, then thoroughly defeated and our lives are freer, lonelier, no longer beat up by physical work but tired of others rather than looking forward to a lodge meeting with them.

    It’s moot what of that is progress or decline because it’s all just what is, just as the circumstances of then were.

    One way to view that evolution is that we’ve gone from locally to globally connected. And that by necessity stretches our circle of empathy from our tribe to our species and our culture from exclusive to inclusive and our care from our house, church, lodge or family bar to our earth. A real stretch for most.

  11. Pete,

    I hear what you’re saying and identify with memories of connection with friends, whether in church, the lodge or the corner pub.

    I do feel like I should put in a good word for the mainstream/mainline Protestant denominations, despite their decreasing membership, who still embrace the social gospel via recognizing civil/human rights, the value of an education, and the importance of ecumenical involvement. These mainstream/mainline Protestant denominations include the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church, the United Church of Christ, the Lutheran Church, and the Disciples of Christ.

    It would be a rare occasion to hear a fire and brimstone sermon from any of these church’s pulpits unless, of course, the church happened to be located in a very small rural area. I should note that the Southern Baptist Church (SBC) is NOT a mainstream/mainline Protestant denomination.

    Here in Hamilton County, there are several non-denominational mega -churches with attendance in the thousands each Sunday, so many attendees the churches hire off-duty law enforcement officers to direct traffic. These particular churches are free-standing independent churches with no governing body, no particular order of service, and appeal to a growing number of uber-conservative types, especially socially conservatives. I doubt the members of these non-denominational churches were even included in the survey as noted by Sheila.

    As Marv wrote above, “Are we sure the Puritans have retreated? I don’t think so.”

    I believe they’ve all moved to Hamilton County.

  12. When do you suppose Israel will disassociate religion from government?

    When will we see gay marriage become legal in Israel?

  13. What if there was a church without a Bible or Torah or Koran? A church of only the present. A church where adherents learned from those who had done the most and longest thinking on any specialty, had successfully mastered the context of that specialty among the others and possessed extraordinary means to communicate their higher understanding to people with less. A church that came to you on your schedule.

    There is.

    http://TED.com

  14. Gopper, gay marriage is legal in Israel. But they leave the ceremony up to the various religious sects. It’s a religious not civil ceremony there. However the civil benefits are available to every partnership regardless of what authority established it. So far the various religious bodies have not chosen to authorize their officials to perform gay marriage ceremonies.

  15. @Pete

    The Unitarian Universalist Association might provide an answer to your query about a church without a designated single holy book or a designated single writ of holy scripture.

    I attended the Unitarian Church, as it was called at one time, with my uncle while he was attending the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. I believe the Unitarian Church has joined w/another like-minded group and is now called the Unitarian Universalist Association.

    Indianapolis locations for this group are located at these websites: http://www.allsoulsindy.org on E 56th Street, heartlanduuchurch.org on N Michigan Rd, http://www.oaklandonuu.org on the far Eastside on Oaklandon Rd, and http://www.sacredpathuu.org on W 57th Street. I am not promoting or vouching for these particular organizations, but rather simply sharing them if you’re interested in such a group.

  16. Yesterday, I was reading an article in Folio Weekly, our alternative newspaper here in Jacksonville, that there were only two cities larger than we were with Republican Mayors. Guess who?

    Indianapolis and San Diego.

    I’ve been wondering what is the common thread that binds me to Sheila’s blog? Now I have at least a partial answer in print.

  17. @Pete

    The Unitarian Universalist Association might provide an answer to your query about a church without a designated single holy book or a designated single writ of holy scripture.

    I attended the Unitarian Church, as it was called at one time, with my uncle while he was attending the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. I believe the Unitarian Church has joined w/another like-minded group and is now called the Unitarian Universalist Association.

    I am familiar with one particular Unitarian Church in Indianapolis, the All Souls Unitarian Church on E 56th Street near Cathedral High School. You can Google their website if interested.

  18. A very strong case can be made that it was World War I that saw the rapid decline of Christianity in Europe, and The Vietnam War that began the slide here. Listen to pre-WWI music and then the very different music that followed. The visual Arts show a radical shift as well. Then compare American pre-Vietnam popular music with the music that comes after. Look at other cultural manifestations, too. A world of difference. the same shifts can be seen in religion.

    The decline of Christianity in Europe probably goes back even further. To the Industrial Revolution: the 19th Century atheists had a strength and robustness that is not found in our contemporary atheistic whiners. The Enlightenment: 18th Century Christianity was in a battle for its life. The Renaissance: the monolithic Church broken into scores of pieces.

    America (and Ireland) are playing catch up.

  19. More than secularization of churches, civil education of members progresses. Professional education is not supplanted in religion and philosophy as authorities establish their own libraries and sanctuaries — added to public and private education in all USA occupations in which useful adults serve as models. Health and hygiene, first aid and child care need to be given mature attention more than short-term sexual intercourse and fertility preoccupations — especially in cleaning up in schools (all) of contagious diseases (e.g. VD, STD). Even Congressional foes are more united than religious authorities in every county or parish still, and so far Republicans and Democrats have not gone to war with each other overtly or civilians.

  20. More than secularization of churches, civil education of members progresses. Professional education is not supplanted in religion and philosophy as authorities establish their own libraries and sanctuaries — added to public and private education in all USA occupations in which useful adults serve as models. Health and hygiene, first aid and child care need to be given mature attention more than short-term sexual intercourse and fertility preoccupations — especially in cleaning up in schools (all) of contagious diseases (e.g. VD, STD). Even Congressional foes are more united than religious authorities in every county or parish still, and so far Republicans and Democrats have not gone to war with each other overtly or civilians.

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