I'm wondering whether this is something of a red herring.
I would love to know how the researchers define religion and where they stand on "religion" as opposed to "faith" or "spirituality." If they're talking about traditional, congregation-based group ritual, I'm surprised that it's only nine countries that are facing extinction of that form. It's inefficient, it's messy and it's hard to reconcile with most peoples' lives. It's not something that's useful the way it used to be, much in the same way that being a Mason or an Elk was sixty years ago.
Faith, though, seems to be a more fundamental part of how people function as people, and that's the point of frustration for those of us who can't comprehend belief structures in anything more than an abstract way. Plenty of people say "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" or "I'm not religious, but I have strong personal beliefs." In my eyes, they're saying "I'm not a baseball player, but I own a uniform, a ball and a bat and play pick-up games of 'hit the ball and run to bases while trying not to get tagged out' on a regular basis. But I'm not a baseball player, because I haven't been signed."
I'd bet that plenty of the people polled have a passable batting average, even if they don't have a uniform.
Ultimately, is it "religion" or "faith" that's more influential at a macro level? I'm not sure.
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Date: 2011-03-23 03:37 pm (UTC)I would love to know how the researchers define religion and where they stand on "religion" as opposed to "faith" or "spirituality." If they're talking about traditional, congregation-based group ritual, I'm surprised that it's only nine countries that are facing extinction of that form. It's inefficient, it's messy and it's hard to reconcile with most peoples' lives. It's not something that's useful the way it used to be, much in the same way that being a Mason or an Elk was sixty years ago.
Faith, though, seems to be a more fundamental part of how people function as people, and that's the point of frustration for those of us who can't comprehend belief structures in anything more than an abstract way. Plenty of people say "I'm not religious, I'm spiritual" or "I'm not religious, but I have strong personal beliefs." In my eyes, they're saying "I'm not a baseball player, but I own a uniform, a ball and a bat and play pick-up games of 'hit the ball and run to bases while trying not to get tagged out' on a regular basis. But I'm not a baseball player, because I haven't been signed."
I'd bet that plenty of the people polled have a passable batting average, even if they don't have a uniform.
Ultimately, is it "religion" or "faith" that's more influential at a macro level? I'm not sure.