4.5 Modern Responses to Religion

Version 1.4 September 2020                                        (Previous Version)

This Chapter covers modern responses to religion.  Modern in this context means from about 1850 CE onwards.  Many Atheists and theists alike believe the world as a whole, and “the West� in particular, is turning away from God, which Atheists attribute to the rise of “reason� and the theists associate with rising materialism, promiscuity and moral degradation.  Indeed, Atheism is rising in Europe, Australasia and even in the USA, where fundamentalist Christianity dominates.  But evangelical Christianity is spreading throughout Africa and the Muslim world is becoming stricter.  This conservative trend is also seen in increasing nationalism and political appeals to ethnic groups, from Hindu nationalists in India, Buddhist supremacy in Sri Lanka and Burma, animosity between Shia and Sunni Muslims, and white supremacists in Europe, North America and elsewhere.

As discussed in Part 3 (History) there are grounds for hope.  Despite the current discord between and within nations, and the cynical exploitation of ethnic ties for political gain, we hope that increased knowledge of the world’s major religions will lead to greater understanding, tolerance and acceptance, reducing the need for our traditional religious background to be a major component of our identity.   Unfortunately, most of the responses to religion discussed in this Chapter lead the other way.

We propose to look at modern responses to religion under the following headings:

As stated in the chapter overview, this is the current summary of our conclusions in this area:

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