Posted on Fri, Sep 10, 2010 : 6:14 a.m.
Taking a pulse on religion in the post-modern age
By Pam Stout
Design by Flickr user vaXzine
David Crumm, founder of ReadtheSpirit.com and who recently completed a 40-day tour of the United States, finds plenty of evidence of flourishing spirituality in America: "First and foremost, it's obvious that this timeless resource is alive and well in every corner of the U.S."Â
Crumm describes a "double-helix" shape of the religion DNA, with strands that show more prominently at different times in history balancing "authoritative revelation to be accepted and spiritual quest to be pursued."
Of note in today's culture is a growing population, Crumm writes, of men and women who don't affiliate with any specific religious affiliation. "These people aren't rejecting religion out of hand," notes Crumm, but that "we don't have a vocabulary to chart the change."
Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity for the Rest of Us, suggests that the future of religion depends upon religious leaders to "orient ourselves in new directions." She writes:
"Religion's future depends on its ability to renew itself in ways that enrich human flourishing and our capacity to love our neighbor as ourselves. Otherwise, religion will be part of the problem (as many people now claim) and will continue on the path of institutional marginalization and decline."
Read more articles about the overall Future of Religion at Patheos.com.