Message #167557

[Balderas]

There is still a human instinct to express gratitude for food, or for the birth of a child. Religious ceremonies to do with birth, marriage and death are still popular, even in this secular age.

This was supposed to be the era when religion would disappear, laughed out of sight, drowned under the weight of its own absurdity. It would be exposed as a sham, a con-trick; it would also be shown to be responsible for most of the evils of the world.

But far from lying still in its grave, the corpse is walking around, creating mayhem and misery while also bringing consolation and delight.

Institutional religion may be faltering in western Europe, but it is flourishing in many other parts of the world.

Religion has many, many faces. Some of its masks are deeply repellent, others are profoundly attractive.

In the Year of Our Lord 2009, whatever is happening to religion, it is not dying. Indeed, it is headline news and – as the P&J letters page so often shows – a constant topic of conversation. As someone who has been involved in the rough old trades of both religion and journalism, I believe that religion’s persistence – resurgence, even – will continue to confound all critics.

Religion deals – sometimes well, sometimes badly – with age-old human concerns. The northern Neolithic cathedral in Orkney speaks eloquently to a new, and needy, generation.

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1366015?UserKey=