Poltergeist
08-30-2009, 03:11 PM
I was inspired by this thread (http://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6945), but by some other discussions as well.
Frequently one may hear that in today's "Western world" there is some kind of battle between Christianity and atheism, whereby different stands are taken by various participants in discussion on the matter. Some triumphantly proclaim that "the process of secularization is marching forward" and that "Christianity is in its death throes", others deplore that situation (churchmen, etc). On the other hand, there is some whinging and cringing from certain prominent atheists, who complain that religion is on the rise again and that "rationality" is on the retreat. An interplay of triumphant and "victimistic" (posturing as victim is a fashion these days) attitudes.
But, are things as simple as that?
I think not. My contention is that in today's Western world (which culturally includes Russia as well), three religions / worlviews are battling each other. Apart from the two already mentioned, there is a third one, which I will call here "neospiritualism". During my lifetime I've come across many people (and stumbled into much written material dealing with that), who believe in God, or some kind of god(s), or "something", or providence, or some "higher principle", or supreme spirit, or whatever, without being Christians. Some of them have a certain kind of disdainful attitude towards both traditional Christianity and traditional atheism (associated with materialist scientism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism)), many are attracted towards a mixture of some pagan revivalism, Hinduism, esoterism, New Age, eclectic philospohy etc.
Of course, I am aware of the limits of this kind of discourse. First of all, atheism is not religion (though some of its varieties are tending towards strongly religious attitudes) and is not a unitary phenomenon (it has several versions). As for Christianity, taking it as some unitary "religion" is also in a way misleading because there are many varieties of it, with different theological currents, very important differences in some cases (not mere hairsplitting) and having deep influence of how people belongning to various Christian denominations see the world and God. So the term of Christianity is here to be understood broadly, as sticking to some very basic Christians principles, something most denominations agree upon. Here I don't mean to involve debate on "who are true Christians" and similar (a topic for some other discussion). Finally, the very notion of "neospiritualism" is very vaguely defined in this context.
In other words, I am aware of simplifications and crude generalising tone (Christianity vs. atheism vs. neospiritualism) inherent in this kind of discussions, but I still think it is legitimate to discuss in such terms, because these divisions seem to be socially important and relevant.
Note: I am not interested here in the issue of Islam and Muslim immigrants and in their future possible influence on spiritual development. This is about the internal divide within the Western/European civilization.
Frequently one may hear that in today's "Western world" there is some kind of battle between Christianity and atheism, whereby different stands are taken by various participants in discussion on the matter. Some triumphantly proclaim that "the process of secularization is marching forward" and that "Christianity is in its death throes", others deplore that situation (churchmen, etc). On the other hand, there is some whinging and cringing from certain prominent atheists, who complain that religion is on the rise again and that "rationality" is on the retreat. An interplay of triumphant and "victimistic" (posturing as victim is a fashion these days) attitudes.
But, are things as simple as that?
I think not. My contention is that in today's Western world (which culturally includes Russia as well), three religions / worlviews are battling each other. Apart from the two already mentioned, there is a third one, which I will call here "neospiritualism". During my lifetime I've come across many people (and stumbled into much written material dealing with that), who believe in God, or some kind of god(s), or "something", or providence, or some "higher principle", or supreme spirit, or whatever, without being Christians. Some of them have a certain kind of disdainful attitude towards both traditional Christianity and traditional atheism (associated with materialist scientism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism)), many are attracted towards a mixture of some pagan revivalism, Hinduism, esoterism, New Age, eclectic philospohy etc.
Of course, I am aware of the limits of this kind of discourse. First of all, atheism is not religion (though some of its varieties are tending towards strongly religious attitudes) and is not a unitary phenomenon (it has several versions). As for Christianity, taking it as some unitary "religion" is also in a way misleading because there are many varieties of it, with different theological currents, very important differences in some cases (not mere hairsplitting) and having deep influence of how people belongning to various Christian denominations see the world and God. So the term of Christianity is here to be understood broadly, as sticking to some very basic Christians principles, something most denominations agree upon. Here I don't mean to involve debate on "who are true Christians" and similar (a topic for some other discussion). Finally, the very notion of "neospiritualism" is very vaguely defined in this context.
In other words, I am aware of simplifications and crude generalising tone (Christianity vs. atheism vs. neospiritualism) inherent in this kind of discussions, but I still think it is legitimate to discuss in such terms, because these divisions seem to be socially important and relevant.
Note: I am not interested here in the issue of Islam and Muslim immigrants and in their future possible influence on spiritual development. This is about the internal divide within the Western/European civilization.