What role does religion have today?

Would you say you’re living a ‘good’ life at the moment? If you were asked what constitutes a ‘good’ life, what would be your first thoughts? Respecting and valuing others and helping those in need? Having a great career, a good network of friends and a loving relationship? Devoting your life to charity? Or living in an apartment overlooking the Champs Elyseés? Today, it seems that the personal question of religion or having a relationship with God rarely crosses most people’s minds. Fifty or so years ago it might have been a different story. So what’s changed?

The West has experienced a drastic decline in religious practice in the last 25 years, especially in Europe, with over 50% of people seeing religion as lacking in importance with that figure reaching over 70% percent in Scandinavian countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Norway, in addition to France and the United Kingdom.

So why is religion less relevant to young people today? Atheist scientist Dr. Matt Johnson sees the sudden abundance of information at our fingertips as the reason why religion holds less interest for young people. “I think the increasing access to information via the internet and television is playing a huge role. Young people now have access to a much greater pool of knowledge from which they can draw their own conclusions about the likely existence of a god.”

With the likes of Lady Gaga, Brad Pitt and Beyoncé splashed all over magazines, TV and internet, religion just isn’t seen as relevant to our lives as it once was, as Rev. David Pepper explains. “Young people are exposed to different icons of celebrity and modern culture, a culture which has no need or place for religion – and so it follows that church is just not relevant. Having said that, there is some good work being done by many evangelical groups, but this type of religion is not for everyone. I know the church has to try new things but personally I can’t stand gimmicks to ‘get people in the door,’ too often the church is embarrassing when it attempts it. The gravity of material icons the young are exposed to is so great that it often makes the church look unfashionable and irrelevant in their eyes.”

Religious figures have traditionally been seen as pillars of the community, and the first port of call whenever advice is needed. Rabbi Irit Shillor believes that with so much information available, young people would rather use Google to solve their problems. “I think that religion is not offering young people the answers they are seeking. I think that the conventional answers that satisfied my generation and older people doesn’t answer questions to do with how much time we spend working, how important computers and especially internet have become (making life quite virtual in many cases), and how chance is manifest in many aspects of life. I also think that young people look at their elders, who often claim to be religious, and their behaviour, which is not always compatible with religious values.”

Another contributing factor is society’s changing attitude towards atheism. Philip Pullman was one of the first major children’s authors to promote an atheist message in the His Dark Materials trilogy. And most people in London will be familiar with The British Humanist Association’s famous bus campaign with the slogan, “There probably is no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” In Europe at least, a person can decide that they don’t believe in God without the fear of being persecuted or frowned upon by society for doing so. Theology student Fran O’Neill notes that now society has become more questioning, and more importantly tolerant of non-believers, more young people like herself are free to decide not to believe in God. “Society has become less dogmatic about religion, people are allowed to question the reason for our existence for themselves, and many of us who do not describe ourselves as ‘god-fearing’ do not have to live in fear of being banished or killed!”

The need for the church has declined

As well as society becoming more tolerant of non-believers, the advent of the welfare state, in addition to government-funded schools and healthcare means people are less reliant on religious institutions in times of need, as Rev. Pepper explains. “Traditionally the church has been strongest where the population is poor; the church has given people hope of a better existence. It has fed and taught the poor, and has been a parental figure in their lives. But as people are brought out of poverty, so their need for the church declines; when they become self-sufficient in a physical sense, this also tends to snuff out their need for spiritual sustenance.”

As well bringing comfort to the poor, society has also turned to religion to try to understand the world and their place within in. Modern advances in science and psychology have given rise to the view that religion is nothing more than early humanity’s way of making sense of the universe, in the same way the Ancient Greeks thought changes in the weather were dependent on the moods of their gods. Scientist Charles Darwin shook the foundations of the church when his Theory of Evolution argued that man evolved from apes as opposed to being created fully-formed by God in the form of Adam and Eve. But then there are scientists such as Max Planck who believed that science and religion are not mutually exclusive. “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we’re trying to solve.”

Much later, Sigmund Freud denounced religion as an expression of a childish delusion to create feelings of security in a world where one feels helpless. Freud’s view sees God as a child’s imaginary friend, whom they can turn to whenever they feel confused and alone, and argues that atheism is a natural result of society ‘growing up,’ of rejecting fantasies and dealing with reality. “If one attempts to assign to religion its place in man’s evolution, it seems not so much to be a lasting acquisition, as a parallel to the neurosis which the civilized individual must pass through on his way from childhood to maturity.”

So what’s does the future hold for society if we were to reach this stage of “maturity” Freud describes, by giving up religion altogether? It’s impossible to ignore the well-worn argument that religious conflict has been the cause of most major conflicts throughout history, and therefore does more harm than good, as some like physicist Steven Weinberg would have it. “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” But whether there would be no more conflict within society if religion was taken out of the equation remains to be seen.

Rabbi Shillor believes there is no easy answer to this question. “We have to ask whether religion is necessarily compatible with a ‘well-functioning’ society. The answer is not a simple “yes”. I think that many religious institutions are very corrupt. Also, we have seen how religion can lead to war mongering, genocides and other major disasters. Having said that, it is my belief that religion can encourage people to find the best in themselves. Such examples of religion are very positive for society and its ability to function well.”

On a more personal level, O’Neill argues that religion isn’t necessary for us to lead a good life. “I do not need The Ten Commandments to be a good person. I certainly don’t need a fear of eternal damnation to live a moral life. I don’t need fear of hell simply because I have sex outside of marriage- something which might be considered ‘sinful’ but can’t possibly be considered ‘immoral’. Needless to say, I do not believe religion is necessary.”

Religion can provide support and advice

Others such as Rev. Pepper agree that while religion does not necessarily mean we are morally superior as people, it still has the power to enrich our lives nonetheless. “For those who lead good lives, but without God in their lives, I believe that they are missing out on the most profound of relationships. For me having a faith in God provides me a whole different dimension in life, a dimension which makes a person feel in tune not only with God but also with all created things in heaven and on earth and this in turn shapes how we live and the values we hold dear.”

When we take a closer look at it, the future for religion is not as clear cut as statistics may suggest. Ultimately possessing a faith comes down to our personal choice as individuals rather than something that can be accepted and rejected by the whole of society. There will be people reading this who are deeply religious and think that statistics pointing to a decline in religious beliefs do not speak for them, in the same way as there would be atheists who still think religion has a strong hold over our culture. A religion has no bearing on whether or not someone is leading a ‘good’ life, but whether we would be ‘missing out’ by not having a religion is a matter of personal experience. One thing we can hope for is that we continue to live in a society where we are allowed to make that decision for ourselves.