Timothy Keller’s introduction to his book ‘The Reason for God’ is useful for those of faith. . . or not of faith:
I find your lack of faith—disturbing. —Darth Vader
There is a great gulf between what is popularly known as liberalism and conservatism. Each side demands that you not only disagree but disdain the other as (at best) crazy or (at worst) evil. This is particularly true when religion is the point at issue. Progressives cry out that fundamentalism is growing rapidly and nonbelief is stigmatized. They point out that politics has turned toward the right, supported by mega-churches and mobilized orthodox believers. Conservatives endlessly denounce what they see as an increasingly skeptical and relativistic society. Major universities, media companies, and elite institutions are heavily secular, they say, and they control the culture.
Which is it? Is skepticism or faith on the ascendancy in the world today? The answer is Yes. The enemies are both right. Skepticism, fear and anger toward traditional religion are growing in power and influence. But at the same time, robust, orthodox belief in traditional faiths is growing well.
The non-churchgoing population in the United States and Europe is steadily increasing.[i] The number of Americans answering “no religious preference” to poll questions has skyrocketed, having doubled or even tripled in the last decade.[ii] A century ago most U.S. universities shifted from a formally Christian foundation to an overtly secular one.[iii] As a result, those with traditional religious beliefs have little foothold in any of the institutions of cultural power. But even as more and more people identify themselves as “having no religious preference” certain churches with supposedly obsolete beliefs in an infallible Bible and miracles are growing in United States and exploding in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Even in much of Europe there is some growth in church attendance.4 And despite the secularism of most universities and colleges, religious faith is growing in some corners of academia. It is estimated that 10 to 25 percent of all the professors of philosophy in the country are orthodox Christians, up from less than just 1 percent of thirty years ago. [v] Prominent academic Stanley Fish may have had an eye on that trend when he reported, “When Jaques Derrida died [in November 2004] I was called by a reporter who wanted to know what would succeed high theory and the and the triumvirate of race, gender, and class as the central of intellectual energy in the academy. I answered like shot: religion”[vi]
In short, the world is polarizing over religion. It is getting both more religious and less religious at the same time. There was once a common belief that secular European countries were the harbingers for the rest of the world. Religion, it was thought, would thin out from its more robust, supernaturalist forms or die out altogether. But the theory that technological advancement brings inevitabe secularization is now being scrapped or radically rethought .[vii] Even Europe may not face a secular future, with Christianity growing modestly and Islam growing exponentially. ~Timothy Keller The Reason for God, this edition 2018) xv-xvii
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
If you are interested in the notes, [i] through [vii] I suggest you get the book 2018 edition from Penguin Random House
