Two epic struggles—both involving science—rage throughout the Western civilized world. In substantial ways, they define our present moment, and their outcomes will certainly shape our future. They both feature in one way or another in “the science wars” that came into focus in the public eye around the turn of the 21st century.1
The first is the ages-old, still evolving, conflict between science and religion. This post has some more reflections on this epic conflict.
The second is less widely recognized as such. It is the conflict that I’ve also mentioned before, between (A) an older scientific ethos that has become entrenched in our familiar everyday social, political, and economic institutions, and (B) a newer consciousness of our universe and our place in it that is grounded in more recent scientific discoveries. I’ll have some further thoughts on this gap between older and newer science, and its implications for the society we have and the way we live, in the next post.
Religious Conflict & the Birth of Civilization,
Offering the first real alternative to faith-based religious belief–an alternative that actually provides answers rather than merely expressing skepticism–science opened up a new arena for conflict that has become a defining aspect of the modern world. This ongoing conflict between science and religion has its own historical background.
You might wonder “Why is it so persistently a conflict?” or “Why is it so hard just to have both?” One answer lies in particular social dynamics that go back to birth of civilization (which in the broader scheme of things is not all that long ago either. See post, June 29, 2016, The Rise (And Fall) of Civilization.)
The first civilizations arose only about five thousand years ago. Different authors use different terms for this event: “urbanization,” “the rise of civilization,” or “the rise of the state level of sociocultural integration.” Anthropologists generally mark it by the appearance of urban centers (cities), accompanied by literacy and a monopoly on the legitimate use of force by ruling elites. No more bloody feuds between rival clans, for instance; now the state itself will establish what are to be the “legitimate” (its own) means of resolving disputes by law backed up with overwhelming force if necessary.
From the beginning civilizations exhibited growing hierarchy and inequality internally, and expansionary dynamics in their relations with others—including, notably, in the matter of religion. I would have to do more research to be absolutely sure, but to the best of my knowledge now it is only civilized people who proselytize and launch crusades to entice or force others to profess the same beliefs that they hold.
Tribal peoples may fight over land or other resources, or for honor, but only civilized people fight religious wars or launch bloody campaigns to colonize and convert the heathen. Wherever civilizations arise, it seems, religion gets itself swept up in the expansionary, warring dynamics of empire. Religion then becomes one tool of empire—as we see so clearly in the history of European’s conquest of the New World.
(Incidentally, while some people view science as an alternative to religious orthodoxy, no one (so far) goes to war to impose a scientific, atheistic, world-view on “true believers.” Something to ponder.)
Even the United States—a modern nation in a New World founded on ideals of religious tolerance and religious freedom (for Euroamericans) after centuries of bloody religious warfare and oppression in the Old World—still finds itself wracked with religious conflict. Much in today’s “culture wars,” and “science wars,” revolves around a perceived conflict between science and religion. The arguments focus on such issues as the teaching of evolution, prayer in schools, and the role of religion in the nation’s public life, especially politics. That civilized urge to force others to “convert” to your own way of believing proves hard to outgrow.
Current Trends in the Science v. Religion Wars
Now, back to the present. Since science and religion can be viewed as alternatives, and many people implicitly or explicitly do so, you might wonder which one seems to be winning out—science or religion? I did. Let me briefly summarize here, with only a little analysis or discussion, a few things I have found relating to this question.
Christians Relative to Total Population are in Decline
First, having lived in the U.S., which seems to be experiencing an upsurge of religiosity, I thought that perhaps the tide had turned. Perhaps as people face ever more difficult problems in the world at large, and for many in their own personal circumstances, more of us turn back to religious faith for meaning in our lives. But according to recent polls this proves not to be so. In fact, all Christian faiths are losing ground. Here’s the story.
In the United States, according to a recent Pew Research poll, the number of Christians has been declining steadily (although they still claim a majority), while the ranks of the “unaffiliated,” the “nones,” have grown, and are now the second largest “faith.” This is a world-wide trend. The National Geographic reports that “More people than ever before are identifying as atheist, agnostic, or otherwise nonreligious, with potentially world-changing effects.”
When I’m working on some topic or idea, it often happens that I see things around me that relate to it. Some time after I first wrote this, we drove down from Vancouver Island where I live, to Santa Barbara, California, for my Nephew’s wedding. Driving into a town along the way, we noticed, in addition to the usual highway signs announcing familiar civic and church groups, one that proudly announced an organized atheist group. (Atheism is a religion?)
Catholic and Mainline Protestant Populations Declining More Than Evangelical Protestants
As the proportion of Christians within the population as a whole loses ground to the nones,” a significant secondary shift within the ranks of Christians further redraws the religious landscape of North America. In the widely-cited Pew Research poll, evangelical Protestant churches are growing while more liberal or mainline churches experience steady decline.
That shift toward Christian conservatism occurs, however, within the larger context of declining church affiliation in general. Conservative and evangelical church affiliation, while growing relative to mainline church affiliation, still isn’t keeping up with ongoing population growth as shown in the accompanying chart. As a percentage of the total population, even the Evangelical Protestants are losing ground. Nevertheless, their relative growth signals the shift toward the more strident religiosity that has become prominent in American politics and public life generally.
Of course, one cannot say definitely, without further study, that traditional religious affiliation is declining because people are adopting a scientifically-grounded and secular view of things instead. And it probably is not so much that people consciously choose the one rather than the other. Rather, more people simply find themselves looking to science rather than the Bible or some other traditional religious text for explanations of the whys and hows of the world. Or, if they don’t look directly to science itself, as such, they simply have (inhabit) a common world-view that has been shaped by science. Religious tales and allegories—religion generally—becomes less meaningful. However you look at it, the figures cited reflect an ongoing deeper cultural shift from a faith-based world-view to one more grounded in science.
An Upsurge of Religiosity?
So, why did I think that religiosity is increasing in America, when clearly, at least statistically, it is not? The quick answer may be that conservative and Evangelical Christians have been drawn out of the woodwork—drawn out of their previously rather peripheral positions in public life—and into more prominent and more vocal places in American politics. This was, at least in part, engineered as a political strategy.
Republican strategists primarily interested in tax cuts and other benefits for the very wealthy courted largely poor Christian conservatives by grandstanding on “wedge” issues like abortion and gay rights and, in the South, race. They channelled funds to conservative Christian organizations, and opened public channels of communication to their spokespersons. All this politically energized Christian conservatism, while at the same time significantly increasing the ranks of active Republican voters.
Indeed, according to one perceptive commentator, political/economic conservatism itself has taken on the characteristics of a fundamentalist religion at the expense of a more civil, democratic, and rational political culture. Fostered by the very wealthy and anti-government ideologues, free market fundamentalism—this scary faith that the “free market” unhindered by political or social concerns, environmental regulations, or other meddlesome encumbrances will answer every prayer—has become a major force in Washington and around the world.
…free market fundamentalism’…’unhindered’ by….’or other meddlesome encumbrances’ — (such as, any kind of God/AK) …now that is, or should be, for those of us who try to be thoughtful agnostics, THE MOST SCARY BRAND of fundamentalism!