On the Religious Boom: Kicking the Secularist Habit

Thanks to Victor of Anxiously Concerned for calling my attention to the article from The Atlantic that appeared a few years ago, the opening paragraphs of which are below. (Photo by Victor as well. See his Beauty in Nature for more amazing shots)

Like a lot of people these days, I'm a recovering secularist. Until September 11 I accepted the notion that as the world becomes richer and better educated, it becomes less religious. Extrapolating from a tiny and unrepresentative sample of humanity (in Western Europe and parts of North America), this theory holds that as history moves forward, science displaces dogma and reason replaces unthinking obedience. A region that has not yet had a reformation and an enlightenment, such as the Arab world, sooner or later will.

It's now clear that the secularization theory is untrue. The human race does not necessarily get less religious as it grows richer and better educated. We are living through one of the great periods of scientific progress and the creation of wealth. At the same time, we are in the midst of a religious boom.

David Brooks, "Kicking the Secularist Habit; A six-step program," The Atlantic Monthly, March 2003