MASS ATTACHMENT TO RELIGION IS RAPIDLY DECLINING IN MOST OF THE WORLD;
WHY, AND WHAT COMES NEXT?The world is becoming less religious. Since
2007, there has been a pervasive decline in religious belief and most
of the world's people now say that God is less important in their
lives than they said He was in the quarter century before 2007. The
American public showed the most dramatic shift of all. The United
States, which for many years stood as a highly religious outlier among
the world's high-income countries, now ranks as the 12th least
religious country for which data are available. Many factors
contributed to this dramatic worldwide shift, but as Inglehart shows,
certain ones stand out. For centuries, virtually all major religions
encouraged women to stay home and produce as many children as
possible; and they sternly discouraged divorce, abortion,
homosexuality, contraception, and any other form of sexual behavior
not linked with reproduction. These norms were necessary for societies
to survive when facing high infant mortality and low life expectancy:
societies that didn't instill them tended to die out. Recent
technological advances have greatly increased life expectancy and cut
infant mortality to a tiny fraction of its historic levels, making
these norms no longer necessary for societal survival. These norms
require repressing strong natural urges, but, since they present
traditional norms as absolute values, most religions strongly resist
change. The resulting tension, together with the fact that rising
existential security has made people less dependent on religion,
opened the way for an exodus from religion. Utilizing a massive global
data base, Inglehart analyzes the conditions under which religiosity
collapses, and explores its implications for the future.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780197547076
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter