Mehr Kohle, weniger Religion.

Auf TheAtlantic.com spekuliert Alan Wolfe auf sehr interessante Weise über die Zukunft der Religionen [englisch].

Insgesamt kommt er zu dem Schluss, dass es zwar (kurzfristig) zu einer Zunahme an Religiösität kommt, diese aber gleichzeitig immer sekulärer geprägt sein werde.

Unter anderem wagt er auch eine Erklärung, warum die USA in nebenstehender Grafik [Klicken zum Vergrößern], die Pro-Kopf-Bruttoinlandsprodukt und Religiösität von 44 Ländern gegenüberstellt, so aus der Reihe tanzt: Die Trennung von Kirche und Staat und der daraus entstehende "freie Wettbewerb" ist Schuld. Viele religiöse Gruppierungen kämpfen um Anhänger und versuchen sich in diesem Prozess, für ihre "Konsumenten" attraktiver zu machen. In der großen Auswahl finden dann auch mehr Menschen etwas, das ihnen zusagt.
Aus dem Artikel:

But one shouldn’t go overboard in describing American religiosity. For one thing, it is as shallow as it is broad: Americans know relatively little about the histories, the theological controversies, or even the sacred texts of their chosen faiths. Recent decades have seen the rise of the Christian right in the United States, but they have also witnessed the seemingly inexorable advance of secular ideals, such as personal choice and pluralism, that blossomed in the 1960s. Some signs indicate that the Christian right may be losing steam, or at least moderating, as a political force. Nonbelief, meanwhile, is increasing: not only are atheist manifestos selling in large numbers, but the percentage of those who express no religious preference to pollsters doubled between 1990 and 2001, to 15 percent.

The most important religious phenomenon in the United States, however, has nothing to do with the number of atheists. It concerns another trend that, like modernization, is changing the trajectories of religion worldwide: the creation and spread of a free religious marketplace, which partly (though by no means completely) revives religious devotion wherever it reaches, but also tends to moderate the religions offered within it.

Religious monopolies or near-monopolies, such as state-sponsored churches, generally throttle religious practice over time, especially as a country becomes wealthier; the European experience amply demonstrates this. Lacking any incentive to innovate, churches atrophy, and their congregations dwindle. But places with a free religious marketplace witness something very different: entrepreneurs of the spirit compete to save souls, honing their messages and modulating many of their beliefs so as to appeal to the consumer. With more options to choose from, more consumers find something they like, and the ranks of the religious grow.

Insgesamt ein sehr lesenswerter Artikel.

MfG,
JLT