Are we living in a Post-Religious Era?

[Lost_Wanderer]

We live in an age where technology and commercialism constantly vie for our attention, feeding narcissism while playing on our sense of productivity and worth. Meanwhile, Cultural Marxism slowly reassigns rights, redistributes values and redefines institutions. All of this draws us away from spiritual lives and the practice of religion. Every age has its challenges to faith – this seems to be ours.

While I agree with your last statement, it seems a tad bit Luddite to say that technology and commercialism are ‘playing on our sense of productivity and worth’.

Rather, the problem lies within ourselves when we fail to acknowledge the limits of technology and have grown dependent on it for results. Technology does do wonders but only if we know how to maximize its effectiveness.

 

[BobCatholic]

We are not in a post-religious era. We simply went from one dominant religion to another dominant religion in an era.

 

[LegoGE1947]

We are not in a post-religious era. We simply went from one dominant religion to another dominant religion in an era.

The religion of the day now is relativism. There are no absolutes and the adherants of this “religion” are absolutely sure of it! Thanks to Mr Luther for opening Pandora’s box.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

The religion of the day now is relativism. There are no absolutes and the adherants of this “religion” are absolutely sure of it! Thanks to Mr Luther for opening Pandora’s box.

Well to be fair, much of today’s secular philosophy derives from the philosophies that were conceived around the same time the myth of Pandora’s box also was.

 

[LegoGE1947]

Well to be fair, much of today’s secular philosophy derives from the philosophies that were conceived around the same time the myth of Pandora’s box also was.

The dog in the Peanuts comic strip was philosophical, but made more sense than so many modern philosophers.

 

[Gaber]

By this i mean are we living in a time where the search for God, objective meaning/purpose and objective moral value, simply doesn’t matter any-more, or at least it does not concern us as much materialist and social/political goals?

We are moving in to a time where technology and science takes care of much of our ills. Many of the things that may have motivated or inspired people to seek spiritual development has been replaced by entertainment, reality tv, films, games, and other forms of escapism etc…

Actually, I would put forth that the growth in departures from the Church in educated countries, the choice to be “spiritual, not religious,” and other factors, even social upheaval and atheism, are signs of the deepening value of our awareness of the spiritual dimension.

Also, the notion of “objectivity” in such matters, or any matters, is going therefore by the wayside, as did the static Universe with the discovery of relativity by Einstein. But for that very reason social and political goals are becoming more concerned with the value of life as distinct from capitalistic accumulation. The accumulative function of capitalism is being seen now more clearly as similar to accumulations in the body as signs of disease, eg edema, boils, water retention, etc. Circulation is what is the sign of health, and even Adam Smith, the oracle of so many economists, stated flatly that the has to be a mechanism for returning wealth to the lower strata because of the capitalist system’s tendency to vacuum money to the top, eg with the paper economy distinguished from the value added labor economy.

As for escapism, it will always be with us as a symptom of immaturity. But for my part, as anecdotal as that might be, I find that folks are way more interested in spirituality than before, and much more genuinely, and not out of rote, habit, or training from birth. there is growing sincerity, in other words, as distinct from habitual inculcated worship.

 

[nordskoven]

Who cares? We are called to be salt and light. Man up. Woman up. Nobody lived in a religious era. Nobody. The three sources of temptation are the world, the flesh and the devil. Fear God. Love God. Obey God.

 

[BobCatholic]

The religion of the day now is relativism. There are no absolutes and the adherants of this “religion” are absolutely sure of it! Thanks to Mr Luther for opening Pandora’s box.

Relativism, Atheism, and Islam are the religious duking it out for dominance.

And you’re right. When protestants started to reject the authority of the Catholic Church, they wanted to find another authority to take her place. So instead of having one Pope, they had millions. Every man was their own Pope. And thus religious relativism was born. When the seculars saw the Christian scandal of religious relativism, the secular relativism came into being.