Patrick Fagan's Why Religion Matters

It is up to parents to instill faith in their kids; this way children can turn to their religion in time of need. As Brandt says, "many [parents] are proud to be without religion whose children cannot afford their being without it" (194). However, in today’s modern culture, as Brandt adds, "Morality can survive without religion, it appears; children can be taught the importance of right versus wrong without benefit of religious training" (139). So, Americans are beginning to turn away from the church, and do not rely on the church as much as they did many years ago.

More and more people are identifying as nonreligious, but the majority of America still aligns with some religion (1). It is theorized that switching of religion is to blame, in that many people that are raised in a religion are changing to become unaffiliated as they get older (1). While the nonreligious population is growing, “roughly seven-in-ten [Americans] continue to identify with some part of the Christian faith,” something that is lacking in the Brave New World society (1). Religion is a still a strong influence in modern day America, with the presence of God affecting our politics, our everyday conduct, even minute things such as the Pledge of Allegiance, with the line “one nation, under God.” However, as the nonreligious population is generally young, with a 20% decline of Christianity in Millenials who are now unaffiliated, it could come to change as the older generation begins to die (“Religion” 1). For now, though, regarding religion, we are not living in a brave new

American journalist and feminist, Gloria Steinem, once said, “by the year 2000, we will, I hope raise our children to believe in human potential, not God.” Although we are 16 years past the year 2000, her hope is slowly coming true. For centuries cultures all around the world have raised their children to believe in a higher power, forcing them to believe in what their grandparents and great grandparents believed in. The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington D.C., found that, “the percentage of Americans who say they “seldom” or “never” attend religious services (aside from weddings and funerals) has risen modestly in the past decade. Roughly three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) now say they seldom or

In fact, Census (2013) shows that in Australia, 15% of the population claimed they had no religion within 2001, this has risen to least 22% today. An influence which has been addressed is that, the wealthier nations are becoming more content and assured as they have developed progressively indifferent to religious morals. Despite wealth being a catalyst of the decline of religion in Australia, CBC News (2012) asserted that the one of the main factors for the deterioration of religion in the Western society is ‘existential security’ meaning that individuals live in a somewhat unchanging, democratic society. This has resulted to countries such as Australia alongside having a solid social security having the least religious individuals (CBC News, 2013). These concepts are generally supported in the survey findings with most respondents claim that Australians see organized religion as "out-dated" in Australia and not needed in the society. In addition to this, another factor argued to the reason why religion is declining is the age. In fact, the investigation specified earlier which showed that age thought to be a vigorous stimulus in faith in God (by National Opinion Research Center, 2017). This has been further supported to surveys claiming that “in the society that majority of people who believe in an organized religion are elderly and less teens.” This establishes that there are various other influences of decline in religion within Australia despite of the countries’ separation from religious

According to data from the Pew Research Center, Americans are becoming less religious, but, simultaneously, more spiritual. Often described as “nones,” these individuals have rejected the trappings of institutional religion, yet still feel “a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being as well as a deep sense of wonder about the universe.”

Americans have been believing in God less and less in recent months, and new research is shedding light on why that may be.

Religion in the West is declining more and more these days. This decline is due in part to the Supreme Court agreeing to remove the reference of religion from schools, businesses, and other public places of interest. This precedent was monumental to the decrease of religion in the United States. The decline of religion is also due in part to the focus people place on their freedom and less emphasis on social rule. The cultural shift in the United States that has taken place has definitely skewed the importance many once had for religion. This shift has forced many of us to hold our own agenda to a higher standard than religion. People are consumed with living their lives as individuals who express their freedom in their own way, doing

Many people believe the United States is becoming a "Godless" culture. The argument is that we are losing our moral values, because religion is not an important part of our life anymore. This is the view of most Fundamentalist Christians and right wing believers. I vehemently disagree with this argument. I say this because there are many ways to practice religion. We have many ethnic populations in our country with many different religions. Because of this, there are many beliefs that differ from the Christian based or religions of only one god. Therefore, our country is not becoming Godless, there are many ways to practice one's faith.

The U.S. News took a survey asking 1000 people questions about their belief in God, or how God played a role in their lives. As a result, 93 percent of people said that they believed in God or a universal spirit (Sheler, 8). Also, when asked to describe their beliefs about God, 76 percent said that they consider God to be a heavenly father who can be reached by prayer (Sheler, 8). That is a remarkable amount of people to belief that they have such a connection with something that they have no actual insurance of existing. Now, obviously America is considered a moral society, so wouldn’t all this faith play a key role in that observation?

But American religiosity is diminishing. Other forces like materialism, globalism, humanism, and science continue to push the world into a new frontier. Between 2007 and 2014, adults who are religiously affiliated dropped 6%; though, 77% percent of Americans are religiously affiliated and 58% find religion very important—and those who identify strongly with religion continue to have the same intensity in belief.

In his article “The Anatomy of Religion”, Anthony Wallace discussed how certain behavior can be considered as religious behavior. In this article, he named thirteen different behavior that are religious. While not all the thirteen behavior are going to be observed in every religion, but it is certain that many of them will be observed in every religion. It is also important to note that some of these behaviors are more obvious in certain religions. For example, one of the behavior is sacrifice. This behavior can be observed differently in Christianity and voodoo; in voodoo people sacrifice goats or chickens while Christians gives offerings at church.

We all know that religion is an organized system regarding the spiritual or supernatural along with various practices that give numerous individuals a sense of purpose in the world and allows these individuals to understand things beyond their reach. However, while reading the articles from “Nones on the Rise,” it is evident that there is an increase in the number of individuals who claim unaffiliation to any religion in the United States. “Nones” gives the facts and figures of the Americans who do not place themselves in any religious category, with an approximate one in five of the public claiming no affiliation. But there are some individuals who denote themselves as spiritual or religious in some way. The entire article is an intriguing one because it breaks everything down, from what it means to be unaffiliated religiously to the composition of the unaffiliated, the demographics of the unaffiliated and theories as to why there is an increase in the numbers of the years. It is interesting to see how people view themselves when it comes to their beliefs.

The Founding Fathers of the United States came to North America to escape the religious persecution of the Old World. Our Constitution was created with a proponent that state and religion can come together to achieve common goals. For the hundreds of years since then, a majority of Americans have surrounded themselves with one notion: the belief in God. Mark David Hall, a distinguished professor of Political Science from Hoover University, believes that although the US was not founded on Christianity, it embodies Christian rooted values and principles (Hall 2011). What would the United States be like without Christianity? Sometimes it is devastating to ponder such a serious and prevalent possibility. It is no coincidence that the drop in

Another challenge concerning the Millennials is that a lot of these young adults are growing up without attending church. The Barna group calls them the unchurched segment and report that this segment has increased in the last 10 years, from 44% to 52% (5 Reasons). This is a problem because it decreases the chances for new members to join the church. The majority of people that follows a specific religion learned about that religion in early childhood. Students of human behavior believe that “The most significant borrowing occurs in early childhood. Family is thus an important factor…” (Wuthnow 106). If the number of the unchurched segment continues to grow at this pace, in the next few decades, this will continue to be a major concern for church leaders across the Americas. It is a lot harder to try to reach those people that have never attended church or don’t come from a religious background than try to reach those that belong to a church or have been brought up in the faith.

As Tillich clams “Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt”. The twentieth century philosopher and theologian, Paul Tillich argues that religion differentiates from the concept of what theologians and scientist have asserting as true. He says religion gives a key to “ultimate concern” which contributes to holy. However, Rudolph Otto, another German theologians and philosopher of his time, has a different statement about the religion and “God”. He sees religion as a rational essence. Yet both agree that religion is not dogma, on the other hand, is rational, their concept of understanding varies from each other.