What has brought this awareness to life is widespread concern about the rise in loneliness and the decline of the forces that bring communities together. With religious disaffiliation skyrocketing, particularly among younger Americans, there is reason to worry that secular alternatives to religious civil society are not growing fast enough to fill the void. Even if secular social spaces proliferate, a society suffering from disconnection cannot afford to lose any of its capacity for community development.
And there’s no denying that faith groups are doing this kind of work. As Daniel A. Cox, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (and a former student of mine at Georgetown University), reported in a 2021 article: “Americans who are members of a place of worship are much more likely than those who are not to volunteer in the community at least a few times a year (47% vs. 23%), to talk to someone one in their community that they don’t know. know them well (64 percent versus 54 percent) and attend a community meeting or local event (60 percent versus 41 percent). They are also “more likely than others to feel connected to their neighborhood and the people who live there (58% versus 46%).”
But appreciation of religion must be accompanied by an acceptance of its paradoxes: it can be both unifying and divisive, promote both dissent and conformism, provoke both self-criticism and tribal self-satisfaction. What is needed to move forward is for religious people to confront the downsides of faith’s public role and for critics of religion to cultivate gratitude for the ways it enriches our common life.
On the negative side: the public voices of white Christianity in particular have shifted to the right, in too many cases toward the embrace of a deeply intolerant ethno-nationalism. This has only accelerated the flight from religion, especially among the more progressive younger generations.
As a liberal Catholic, I welcomed Pope Francis’ decision recent warning against “a very strong reactionary attitude” on the part of some of the American Catholic leaders and a “climate of closure” in which “ideology replaces faith”.
Yes, liberals also have to worry about ideology replacing faith. But Francis is right: if religion becomes synonymous with reaction, many will be left behind. As Black Church traditions have repeatedly reminded us, the prophetic power of religion must place love and justice at its center, otherwise it becomes, in the words of Holy Paul“a loud gong or a clanging cymbal”.
But critics of conservative religion must remember that community spirit is not just a habit of progressives. As Cox’s data shows, this is a virtue that transcends the boundaries of tradition and ideology.
Here’s what’s encouraging about this new turn in the conversation: Many secularists and progressives are emphasizing the socially constructive role of religion. My Post colleague Perry Bacon Jr., who left the church, wrote forcefully last month about a “church-sized hole in American life,” pointing out that even attractive secular alternatives did not offer “songs, sermons, and solidarity all at once.”
Two of the leading public voices highlighting the costs of increasing loneliness, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and General Surgeon Vivek H. Murthy, also cited the role of churches in combating isolation and building personal and neighborhood connections. In his report, “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” Murthy was blunt: “Religious or faith groups can be a source of regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, create a sense of belonging around them. shared values and beliefs and are associated with reduced risk behaviors.
It is true that very few people decide to believe in God (or not) for reasons of social utility, and humans have argued for centuries about whether religious faith is good or bad for the world. Even those who share my positive view in this debate must recognize that religion has been harnessed for evil purposes and that religious leaders (like all human beings) have demonstrated a great capacity for sin and corruption – another reason why so many people fled to the world. ranks of the disaffiliated.
Nevertheless, critics of religion who rightly preach the value of open-mindedness should apply this virtue in their approach to believers and the institutions they build. It won’t work miracles. But it might help us recognize that the path to truth and a less conflictual society often takes unexpected turns.
