Can Anything Replace Religion?
Commentary by Walter Hesford | FāVS News
A while ago I wrote a column about the claim that data technology will someday soon provide our religious experiences.
More recently, I read of the hope that faith in liberalism could take the place once held by religion. This hope was expressed by Fareed Zakaria in “Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present,” reviewed and quoted by David Brooks in a March 28 New York Times’ opinion piece, “The Great Struggle for Liberalism.”
“The great challenge,” writes Zakaria, “remains to infuse the journey [of liberalism] with moral meaning, to imbue it with the sense of purpose and pride that religion once did — to fill that hole in the heart.”
Liberalism, as described by Brooks and Zakaria, promotes democratic practices and institutions that historically have increased the well-being of both individuals and communities. These practices and institutions are now threatened in the world and in the U.S. by autocratic leaders and would-be leaders.
Can Just Anything Fill the Hole in Our Hearts?
I share the fears of these writers and also value liberalism, but I wonder if it can “fill the hole in the heart” that religion once did and still does for some of us. I acknowledge that for a long time surveys have suggested that religion is indeed losing the hold it once had on U.S culture, that we are drifting toward secularism, following the path of most other developed countries.
I have to also acknowledge that many of these countries, especially the Nordic ones, consistently place higher on happiness polls than we do. Maybe these countries have put more faith — and more money — in democratic institutions, and this is one source of their happiness.
Of course here there are small pockets of pseudo religious revival. Followers of Trump are snapping up Bibles he has authorized. Somehow this does not make me happy.
It would be great if most found happiness, moral meaning, purpose and pride in their work. Even if they did, would work replace religion as a unifying cultural experience?
Many find unifying happiness playing or watching sports. Perhaps this can replace religion. I’ve heard some pastors complain that it already has. They have a hard time gathering together folk, especially young folk, for a time that does not interfere with sports practices or games. Judging by the comparative amount of coverage sports and religion receive from newspapers and other media, there is no doubt which is considered more important.
Sports, Capitalism or Birthday Parties?
Maybe sports events supply those who participate in them with the enthusiasm (literally, the feeling of being infused with god-like spirit) that they no longer look for in religious worship. Sports teams also seem to offer a much needed sense of belonging in our increasingly lonely society. But can sports give us moral meaning, a sense of purpose, fill holes in our hearts?
How about consumer capitalism? Faith and engagement in it keeps our economy going. Can it take the place of religion? Has it already in the lives of many of us? Major Christian religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter have turned into excuses for conspicuous consumption, as have other celebrations.
I recently attended a birthday party for a great grandson, which culminated in his opening a host of presents — mainly Godzilla–Kong models and games — that surrounded him. Surrounding him and these presents, a host of family and friends sat in admiration. It felt a bit like a religious service. We were a happy congregation, but was there a moral meaning to this event?
How About Nature?
As an alternative to consumer capitalism we might devote ourselves to nature. Every morning I religiously read a portion of Thoreau’s journal, who religiously dedicated himself to knowing and loving the natural work around him. His details about when flora emerge and birds return each spring provide a basis for climate change science today.
Thoreau’s devotion to nature was for him an experiential religion, but he needed to supplement it with involvement with the social issues of his time, especially slavery. Consequently he wrote a defense of civil disobedience for just causes that influenced Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thoreau stayed away from organized religion, but Gandhi and King found traditional faith essential to their moral purposes and their liberating missions. Those who give voice to religious faith may be increasingly marginalized, but we should remember that many religious teachers, including Jesus, lived on the margins. This gave them insight into what matters, insight we can’t afford to lose.
While many human activities have value, nothing, in my opinion, can take the place of religion. But can religion have a great enough heart to fill all of our hearts?
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
It entirely depends upon what you mean by religion. If it’s to be equated with spirituality, then indeed, religion fills a special void that other quasi-religious pretexts like sports cultures, Hollywood obsessions, or musical fandoms attempt to do. The question of what a religion is in the first place occupied my mind for years. I found that I had to start with a concept of spirituality as a resonant awareness of existence and interests from and through that existence beyond what’s physical. Spiritualities inevitably develop spiritual traditions of their own. When those spiritual traditions become codified and enforced through human agencies, that’s religion, and those who enforce them, demanding an exclusive and total obedience to their agency constitute cults. In the context of such definition, James 1:27 isn’t dattempting to define religion, but asserts what makes a religion genuine and undefiled.