Crisis of secularism


By Peter Ford

PARIS — "God is back among intellectuals," says Aleksander Smolar, a leading European thinker who heads the Stefan Batory Foundation in Warsaw and teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris.
"You can feel there is a problem of soul in Europe; people are conscious of a void and there is a certain crisis of secularism," he said.
Seeking to fill that void, several dozen faithful Catholics gathered one recent Tuesday evening, as they do each week, to pray in the freshly painted basement of St. Denys church in northern Paris.
One after another, standing in a circle, they gave thanks aloud to God. One woman was grateful that an argument with her son had not gotten out of hand; another prayed for continued strength to keep looking for a job; a third, in tears, thanked the Lord "for helping me put up with all the humiliation I suffer."
Then they all sang a simple hymn. Some swayed; some held their palms outstretched; others closed their eyes.

'New Path Community'
For the past nine years, St. Denys parish has been run by a priest from the "New Path Community," a charismatic Catholic movement that has borrowed much from the American Pentecostal tradition.
While the pews in traditional Catholic churches have emptied, the New Path and similar congregations have blossomed, attracting thousands of believers to prayer groups and Sunday Mass across Europe.
They are drawn, says parish priest Father Louis-Marc Thomy, "by the charisma of a community life. They say they feel unity and peace with us. And they find joy in rediscovering faith in a joyous manner."
The prominent role that religion continues to play in American public life, meanwhile, has undermined the widespread European view that modern societies inevitably grow more secular, and that religion is an attribute of underdevelopment.


Secularism is showing signs of wear, argues Jacques Delors, who once bemoaned Europe's lack of "soul" when he was president of the European Commission. "I fear that the construction of Europe is sinking into absolute materialism," he said. "Things aren't going well for society, so society is little by little going to start asking itself what life is for, what death is and what happens afterwards?"


http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050312-110344-6973r.htm

The article seems to be mainly an attack on us non-religious folk. All I can say is, to each their own...

Originally posted by BorgHunter
The article seems to be mainly an attack on us non-religious folk. All I can say is, to each their own...

Many non-religious people are as fanatical in their beliefs as the religious people are.

old reb

I think the key here may be the "community" aspect. I have always felt that the current trends in pulling away from churches has had a detrimental effect on the general populace (in conjuction with the dissapation of the family unit).

No matter what you believe in (spiritually), most humans need to to be a part of something bigger - and these groups of people tend to reinforce their moral willpower and empathy toward others.

I know....I know.... some will say that there have been horrible things that have spawned from "groups", whether they were religious based or not. I won't argue that, but I feel that there has been a much greater positive impact from this type of interaction.

Real people need real people, not just a TV set full of "reality" shows.

In a way, this forum is an electronic version of this type of interaction, albeit without the face to face interactions. The WWW is full of blogs, forums, and the like that help to somewhat fill that void.

I post so much on here and read so much because my freinds really dont have the kind of intellegent conversation that you guys produce, nor do they find interesting the sort of topics you discuss.

Originally posted by old-reb
Many non-religious people are as fanatical in their beliefs as the religious people are.

old reb

Why do theists like to say that disbelievers can be just as bad as themselves?

Originally posted by Blob
Why do theists like to say that disbelievers can be just as bad as themselves?

I like old farts reply best and wholly agree with it. However to Blob, I say that I am an Agnostic.

and supporting what you believe is not always bad.

Religion like fire does much more good than harm; However both are very dangerous when misused.

old reb

Originally posted by old-reb
I like old farts reply best and wholly agree with it. However to Blob, I say that I am an Agnostic.

and supporting what you believe is not always bad.

Religion like fire does much more good than harm; However both are very dangerous when misused.

old reb


ITs just unfortunate that we cant deprive religion of Oxygen when it gets out of hand.

"Religion like fire does much more good than harm; However both are very dangerous when misused." - old-reb

great analogy reb, I couldn't agree more.

Originally posted by OldPhart
"Religion like fire does much more good than harm; However both are very dangerous when misused." - old-reb

great analogy reb, I couldn't agree more.

Old-reb Phart :)

I have to disagree man made religion doesn't do squat. A group of kind people with good intent does the good. Just like a group of people with twisted views does bad. Can charity and good deeds happen without the church, of course, happens all the time. just like bad things can happen without the church. One problem with man made religion is that sometimes it pulls fanatics together which can be very bad, Salem witch hunts, KKK, white power, are just a few examples.

Back to the main topic, are some of these religions fadding because of lack of evidence? At one time the church taught that the planets went around the earth, the earth was flat etc... If the church did not know about this how can it know about God which is a much harder subject to know about? Maybe it is not because people are loosing faith but they would just like some sort of proof. The church loves to seperate science from believe but isn't science the true work of God? At one time we could have said God holds us on the planet but now we now it is gravity. Either the church is going to have to modernize or it will become a thing of the past.

Ok old reb, that would explain why you pasted that comment.

Regarding the article I have seen a few like this with titles such as "crisis in secularism" or "the decline of atheism" of "the rise of faith" and so on. Not one has ever printed or refered to statistics showing this to be the case.

The phenomenon would seem to be no more than "a rise in articles making unsubstantiated claims."

Mad Dog,

I beg to differ with your "pigeon-holing" all religous institutions into one category.

Firstly, there is a great deal of good done by most church groups ( not all - I admit ). In the area where I live, churches make by far the largest contributions to the needy locally. These deeds ARE organized by a religious institution.

Secondly, not all churches have declining membership based on "scientific - evidence". I think you are refering to the Fundamentalist Protestants, (due to their belief in the inerrancy of the bible), not to all denominations/churches. There have been declines in many churches and denominations, but not necessarily for the reasons you have given.

Well, as long as people come to Christ, I am happy. Perhaps this is a first step into something new and glorious, perhaps it's the last breath before the end.