by: Ber Stackhouse, MBA October 12, 2012
Culture has a great impact in the way people experience the divine. Within societies, people begin to behave or perform tasks in a certain way. Within religions, people tend to understand the primary way of worship and action within church settings and other places of worship. Such a dynamic is quite important in whether others find the church welcoming and a place where one can feel content and at peace.
Dr. Tom Shepherd writes in Glimpses of Truth, “When [techno- environmental and social] problems have been resolved, social scientists contend, the belief system will change to reinforce the new status quo. More than accepting change, the religious/ethical thinking of the tribe will now display a marked preference for the new way of life. That’s what happens to our uprooted seacoasters, now comfortable as woodspeople. Before, the tribe worshipped sea gods and prayed to the moon goddess for favorable tides. Now they worship spirits of the deep woods, praying to the goddess of the hunt to insure that deer and elk are plentiful.”[1] Religion takes on, at least in part, the needs of the community at the time. This may be met by meeting tangible needs, providing encouragement, and at times evoking differentiation or escapism from daily angst and ills.
Change of belief systems may be taking place in the United States. With social reforms, technological innovation, varied business models, environmental concerns, changes in racial and ethnic composition, economic development as well as periods of economic uncertainty, a new status quo is developing. Teresa Watanabe noted in the Los Angeles Times that, a release October 9, 2012 of a “study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that Protestants now make up 48% of Americans, compared with nearly two-thirds in the 1970s. The decline, concentrated in white members of both mainline and evangelical denominations, is amplified by an absence of Protestants on the U.S. Supreme Court and the GOP presidential ticket for the first time.” [2]
Shepherd speaks to the possibility of beliefs and cultural influences changing religious orientation in the future. He explains such a change happened previously with Christianity in that, “vast numbers of polytheistic gentiles across the Hellenistic world climbed aboard the Jesus boat and sailed into Christianity without ever making port in traditional Judaism. Yet, even that was not a complete break with yardsticks of the past. Jewish Christianity and gentile Christianity joined forces to find in the life and teachings of Jesus a fulfillment of all the promises God had made to His people, Israel, and a way of life which non-Jews could wholeheartedly embrace. It was nothing short of a religio-cultural miracle.”[3]
Religion and spirituality may now decline further in many Americans’ lives in terms of affiliation, church attendance, and positive conscious religious association without some approach that is relevant, embracing, and meaningful. From the Pew Forum study released, findings show “[t]he trend toward dropping away from organized religion was evident across gender, income and educational levels. But it was most apparent in the Northeast and West and among the young, the study showed. A third of adults under 30 have no religious affiliation, compared with just 9% among those 65 and older.”[4] Current religious practice as being shown in society, may be slightly or far removed from the desires and thinking of younger Americans.
Cary Funk, a Pew senior researchers said, “Two-thirds of the religiously unaffiliated still say they believe in God. But they overwhelmingly expressed disenchantment with religious organizations for being too concerned with money, power, rules and politics.”[5] Such sentiment speaks to less of a structured religion than a spirituality that can be personal, open and embracing to various groups of people, adaptable, yet marked by a sense of the divine and not just a machine without substance or depth.
[1] Thomas Shepherd, Glimpses of Truth (Carol City, FL: UFBL Press, 2000)
[2] Teresa Watanabe, “Shifting dynamic of U.S. religion,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2012, LAT Extra section
[3] Thomas Shepherd, Glimpses of Truth (Carol City, FL: UFBL Press, 2000)
[4] Teresa Watanabe, “Shifting dynamic of U.S. religion,” Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2012, LAT Extra section
[5] Ibid.
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