Buying into religion

OPINION:

Religion in America is no longer the faith of our fathers. Belief is always an uphill climb and our forebears weren’t the sort who sought out the gentle slopes. Moderns explain their change of heart as simply the natural progression from superstition to enlightenment. However, it’s not rationalism but emotionalism that drives modern culture away from its religious roots. To be surrounded by glitter and glamour generates the flash of Facebook friends. Not to be forgotten is “the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen,” as the Good Book describes the faith that is a lifelong companion.

A survey of shifting attitudes toward religion from the Pew Research Center explores the reasons why Americans raised in a particular religious tradition have abandoned it in adulthood to join the ranks of “nones,” those with no affiliation. The largest proportion at 36 percent place themselves in a category of having become disenchanted with their faith or that they simply stopped believing. Among them are “many respondents who mention ’science’ as the reason they do not believe in religious teachings.” Seven percent say they lost interest in their religion or no longer need it, and another 7 percent say their views have evolved.

Dislike of organized religion claims 15 percent, who say they were put off by “the hierarchical nature of religious groups,” and 5 percent are unhappy with the politics and conflict in their abandoned denomination. Another 18 percent say they’re still open to religious belief, but are not sure of their childhood faith.

Focusing on just the “nones,” however, gives the impression that Americans are hellbent on forsaking faith. A broader, more careful, look at religious views is considerably less dire. A separate Pew survey finds that among the overall U.S. adult population, belief in God only slipped from 92 percent to 89 percent between 2007 and 2014. The proportion of Americans who claim a deep sense of spiritual peace actually rose from 52 percent to 59 percent during the same period.

Mass murder in a Charleston church, a priest slaughtered at the altar in France, sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites in Syria, all convey the impression that religious individuals and institutions are trapped in the same vortex of human depravity that bedevils the secularists. It’s tempting to turn away from religious conflict when there are endless choices of media distractions: a new season of NFL heroics is underway, some people are still enraptured by the movies, and there’s always ogling the Kardashians. Indeed, mindless entertainment is the new opiate of the masses.

Still, the pathway of progress has been primarily cleared by persons driven to serve, and few are more attuned to that impulse than the religious. When rising waters claimed the homes of more than 60,000 families in Louisiana, when the president insisted on finishing his golf vacation before succoring the suffering, it was faith-based organizations like Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, the Salvation Army and the churches that were first on the scene to provide the destitute with food, drink and solicitude for the spirit.

Modern Americans can choose among many paths that lead away from difficult existential questions. So could have Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist. In his “Thoughts,” Pascal concluded that faith is a more rational choice than faithlessness. If there is no Creator, he reasoned, the believer’s efforts have cost him little — only some time and money spent in service to others. If there is a God, however, then the believer’s faith and sacrifices will be amply recognized throughout eternity. “Pascal’s Wager” on faith is a smart gamble, a far better bet than the lukewarm “none.”