Religion's Sudden Decline: What's Causing It, and What Comes Next?
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- Create Date：2021-04-26 10:51:20
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：Ronald Inglehart
- ISBN：0197547052
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Summary
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。
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。
Reviews
Martin Henson
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I have an almost pathological reaction to the taking of means （averages） of ordinal data， although the WVS mostly uses a 10-point scale， so the troublesome issues （e。g。 that average "satisfied" can go up when the proportion of those "dissatisfied" also increases） are less likely to arise。 Nevertheless， I found myself wondering about the "distribution" in many cases - rather than knowing the "average" is 8。4， it would be interesting to know the proportions of respondents， say， 3-and-below， and 8- I have an almost pathological reaction to the taking of means （averages） of ordinal data， although the WVS mostly uses a 10-point scale， so the troublesome issues （e。g。 that average "satisfied" can go up when the proportion of those "dissatisfied" also increases） are less likely to arise。 Nevertheless， I found myself wondering about the "distribution" in many cases - rather than knowing the "average" is 8。4， it would be interesting to know the proportions of respondents， say， 3-and-below， and 8-and-above。 I wonder whether some of the plots would look different if the analysis was based on proportions in categories， rather than averages 。。。Anyway， the results are - as usual for Inglehart's work - startling。 The book， stylistically like his others （like Cultural Evolution: People's Motivations are Changing， and Reshaping the World， is quite dry - and often reiterates in words what can be seen in the data。 His broader comments are often so compressed as to be misleading。 For example， his comment that "。。。 when West Germany emerged as an independent nation in 1949 it adopted democratic institutions and launched extensive programs to reeducate the German public about the horrors of the Holocaust" （p。 144） somewhat distorts history。 As Susan Neiman in Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil carefully documents， West Germany was slow and stuttering in this regard - and East Germany more rapidly addressed the past。 This is the problem with high-level summary statements - and one does wonder， a bit， whether the same can be said for the high-level results of the WVS itself。 I am inclined to think that these results are， nonetheless， pretty compelling。Among the wealth of interesting indicators described， there are a few that are particularly noteworthy。 First， the fact that the US appears to be ditching God faster than anyone else - who woulda thunk it！ This was one place where I wished there were a lot more intra-country analysis in addition to the inter-country analysis that forms the most part of the book。 The US is a highly unequal society， and many of the differences the inter-country analysis shows （for example， the increase in individual versus traditional choice norms correlating with a decrease in religiosity - and the links with economic security; Figure 5。3， p。 61） would surely be seen within the US。 In this regard， since the US is treated homogeneously in the inter-country analysis， it is even more startling that the US shows the greatest decline in religiosity。 A second highlight are the negative correlations between religiosity and crime rates （Figure 9。3， p。 194） and between religiosity and murder rates （Figure 9。4， p。 196）。 Clearly， as he notes， these are not causal relationships - religion doesn't make people more likely to steal and murder - but both are related to economic security。 The less secure， the more religious and the more likely it is to see high crime rates， including murder。 What it also indicates， though， is that the argument that more religion secures better behaviour is highly dubious at this coarse-grained level。These are all observations from 50，000ft - and should be treated with caution。 But it is actually quite amazing that such very strong correlations come from such stratospheric data。 It implies - strongly - for a materialist account: if you want to reduce the significant social， cultural， and political polarisation in， say， the US， the way to do this is to address the significant economic inequities - not to marshal "the arguments"。 Reagan 0， Marx 1！ （Well， Reagan was also a self-avowed materialist - but not in quite the same sense）。 。。。more
Yanick Punter
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Philosopher John Gray claims progress is an illusion。 This book has counter-evidence to that claim。 Note， I am still in the progress of reading this。This book makes me proud of the Netherlands。 I am thankful to have been born there。The rise of the far-right scares me。 However， I can understand the anti-immigration feelings some people have。 I think we should take it seriously。
Zeynep
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İki farklı makale şeklinde yayınlamak yerine kitap olarak basılması talihsiz olmuş。 Çok fazla tekrar var ve bu sadece argümanlarla sınırlı değil maalesef。 Bazı noktalarda ben bu cümleyi 5 sayfa önce okumadın mı diye beni düşündürecek kadar özensiz bir yazım söz konusu。
Mark Huisjes
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A very thorough analysis of the reasons for the decline of religion。 This is probably not a welcome message for those who value religion but Inglehart makes a strong case that the decline of religion is the predictable end result of a long process of shifting cultural values driven by socioeconomic development。 Religion is set to decline a lot further than it already has。 If overall economic stability and growth continue in the long run。I particularly liked the discussion about the USA which for A very thorough analysis of the reasons for the decline of religion。 This is probably not a welcome message for those who value religion but Inglehart makes a strong case that the decline of religion is the predictable end result of a long process of shifting cultural values driven by socioeconomic development。 Religion is set to decline a lot further than it already has。 If overall economic stability and growth continue in the long run。I particularly liked the discussion about the USA which for a long time was the exception to the rule and maintained high religiosity rates。 But starting in 1990 religion has started to collapse in the USA as well。 Apparently when the Soviet Union fell （along with its forced atheism） the argument that atheism is unpatriotic and anti-American has ceased to apply。This is a must have for everyone who liked Inglehart's "Cultural Evolution: People's Motivations are Changing and Reshaping the World"。 。。。more
Ietrio
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