Whoever does not speak and who does not write about the general secularization of the "enlightened world". And they write and speak, for the most part, quite enthusiastically. Here, they say, finally, "renounce the old world" finally and certainly irrevocably. In principle, enthusiasm in this God-fighting business is not surprising, since such topics are written and talked about mainly by the “most advanced detachment” of all kinds of bloggers, journalists and other experts. And they are quite often anti-religious nowadays. And not because these are their deepest inner convictions, but because it is in trend. It's fashionable after all. And therefore, it is prestigious. And most importantly, it makes you our own in the party.
Outward piety
They may object, say that, de, in the same Russia, everything is not at all like that. Our old temples are being restored, and abandoned religious buildings are being reconstructed, and new ones are being built. The number of believers is constantly growing, which is evident from the ever-increasing number of parishioners. And this is not only about Orthodoxy, for example, it concerns. Buddhists are quite active. Muslims sacredly observe the faith of their fathers. Jewish organizations are working throughout. And all of them, with very rare exceptions, peacefully coexist in the vastness of our vast common homeland. However, first of all, the aforementioned “advanced” bloggers, journalists and experts, well, those who are in the “trend”, do not rank us all together and separately in the “enlightened world”. And secondly, there is a great suspicion that piety is still largely external. When everything is sparkling outside, and inside the icons are overgrown with cobwebs.
Poems he wrote
Indeed, let us recall, for example, our own religious behavior, which is largely limited to visiting temples during the great holidays - Christmas and Easter, and even diving into an ice hole for Epiphany. I recall a dialogue with one young man who claims to be an Orthodox monarchist, but who has managed to tell very little about the Russian monarchy and who very rarely come to church. It is even possible that he did not visit the temple at all. At least, it seemed so after trying to clarify the extent of his religiosity. And it was also one of the best characters. He wrote poetry.
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Almost paganism
In fact, there are a lot of us like that, lukewarm. Such that neither here nor there. Neither with God nor without him. Yes, we have a strong sense of religiosity. Viscous, felt, at times, quite material. For example, the feeling "I am an Orthodox person." But this is such an almost pagan (although here it should be noted that, rather, pseudo-pagan) belief that there is a certain higher power, and this power can reward, and maybe punish for my sins. But, in principle, you can also grind. In this there is very little Orthodoxy in particular and Christianity in general. This, as a Buddhist master once said, is spiritual materialism. When you relate to the spiritual completely with worldly expectations of profit. This has already happened once - before the revolutions of 1917.
Surprised by the revolution
At that time, to many outside observers, Russia seemed almost truly holy in its religiosity. For example, in the memoirs of one of the foreign religious leaders, there was a real surprise at the revolutions that took place in Russia, the assassination of the tsar and the fight against God. He recalled how he attended the celebrations marking the three hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913 and endured a firm conviction in the mass religiosity of the peoples inhabiting the Russian Empire and their respect for the ruling dynasty. And he could not understand why everything collapsed so quickly in such a country. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the religiosity he recorded in Russia was, apparently, in many respects only an external attribute, which had largely lost its content.
Marker: liberalization of abortion
However, back to the "enlightened world". What is happening there? And if you read the local media, you can come to the conclusion that religiosity, for example, in the EU countries is bursting at the seams and is about to collapse completely. Moreover, Western journalists draw such conclusions even from seemingly non-religious premises, such as the liberalization of abortion legislation. In the same Ireland, after holding the appropriate referendum, every citizen can artificially terminate a pregnancy without medical evidence. It would seem that this is a purely secular topic from the category of feminist, but, according to the journalists there, this speaks of the country's departure from its traditional religion. Irish people are mostly Catholics, and it is the Catholic Church that has been and remains the main opponent of the liberalization of abortion legislation. However, it was liberalized. And not just a decision of legislators, but precisely as a result of a referendum. That is, the inhabitants of Ireland for the most part voted against the position of their church.
A turn in consciousness
We are not going to seriously raise the topic of abortion here. This is a very complex and multifaceted topic, about which thousands, tens of thousands of copies have already been broken by public activists, journalists, and religious figures. But why exactly is she seen as a marker of a departure from religious life by some serious Western media? Because for a religious person, abortion is a sin. It does not matter whether it is a sin before God or an extremely unwholesome act in the form of killing, even if not yet a born living creature. And this means that, by massively approving the liberalization of abortion, residents of European countries are showing a tendency to no longer look back either at God or at any other traditional religious attitudes. This is a truly revolutionary turn in the mass consciousness.
Like pebbled skin
But this is not the only marker. There are others. For example, according to the information of the same Western media, in some European countries the Catholic Church is enlarging its parishes. That is, in a simple way, it closes some of them as unnecessary. There are no parishioners. This even applies to such a traditionally devout country like Italy. The same is happening in Austria. In the Netherlands, where about forty percent consider themselves non-believers, and another thirty percent consider themselves to be agnostics (perhaps the most secularized European country), about five percent of nominal Catholics come to worship, in Spain - twenty percent, in France - ten percent … Pious Luxembourg last year effectively separated the church from the school, canceling religious lessons. Again, this does not raise the question of whetherwhether or not religious lessons are needed at school. They were just in Luxembourg. Now, no. The religiosity of "enlightened" Europe shrinks, dries up like pebbled skin.
Where are they running?
Well, okay, let's say the Europeans, or even more broadly - the collective West, as they say now, is running away from religiosity. But where is he running? Perhaps to education? Maybe there they reached unprecedented heights in the sciences of man, so unprecedented that everything is clear and understandable even without religion? Perhaps, there is an unprecedentedly revealed human creative potential? No. The person there is still the same as in other parts of the Ecumene. And even, in some practical sense, less quality. For example, modern Western youth believe that comprehending complex sciences is not a tsarist business. In one of the countries-pillars of modern Western civilization, they cry that there is not enough qualified personnel in construction, there is an acute shortage of engineers, but many are chasing diplomas of journalists, PR specialists and other stylists, although there is already a large surplus on the labor market. Literally in a few years, according to British statistics, the country will sorely lack at least four million highly educated specialists. And even more, even low-skilled labor. That is, the Europeans are obviously running away from religiosity not in the direction of greater learning, freedom of thought and the disclosure of creative potential. Then where do they run?
Consumption religion
There is one nuance here: it is precisely those countries of the West that are prosperous in terms of quality of life that are more susceptible to secularization. This is the so-called old Europe, this is, to some extent, the United States. In countries with lower living standards, this process is not so noticeable. Once again, there is a temptation to say that this is due to the great development of Western, mainly European, civilization. But as noted above, this is far from obvious. Obvious, indeed, only the difference in the standard of living. However, the past generations of Europeans created this difference with sweat and blood. Those that were just very, very religious. Today's generations have gotten everything almost for free. To some extent, they drowned, not to say in luxury, but in convenience. It seems to them that it has always been so. It seems to them that it will always be so. If their grandfathers had already begun to move away from traditional religion towards a religion of success, identified primarily with money, but still with difficulty, then their fathers were already one hundred percent flock of this religious doctrine - the doctrine of success at all costs. And today's Europeans are the flock of an even more "advanced" religion. Consuming religions.
Ashes to ashes
Essentially, what we perceive as the secularization of the West is the victory of the flesh over the spirit. This is a thirst for momentary pleasures, preferably replacing each other, stretching in time and turning into eternity. This generation is afraid to think about the present eternity. Therefore, he is trying to transform his current existence into such. This is sybarism at its worst. Akin to alcoholism, when a person does not control his urges. Moreover, consumption is not only the sphere of things, it also applies to the relationship between the sexes, and even the spiritual sphere. Something must be done to fill the gaping void in the region of the heart. So all sorts of cults appear from a mixture of Eastern religions, science and … again, a thirst for pleasure.
In principle, even Soviet communism-socialism was called a religion, a cult. And to some extent this is true. But this cult was aimed at an attempt to reveal the potential of man and even at an attempt, doomed to failure, to build a paradise in earthly life. What can we say about world traditional religions with their focus on a person's knowledge of himself, the world around him or God. By and large, the efforts of fundamental science are aimed at the same. But adherents of the religion of consumption, the religion of freebies are not interested in this. This is the religion of dust. Which, as it was said, remains in dust.
Mark Raven
