Posts Tagged ‘Catholic’
“God has no religion”*…
In the early years of the twenty-first century, religion seemed to be on the rise. The collapse of both communism and the Soviet Union had left an ideological vacuum that was being filled by Orthodox Christianity in Russia and other post-Soviet states. The election in the United States of President George W. Bush, an evangelical Christian who made no secret of his piety, suggested that evangelical Christianity was rising as a political force in the country. And the 9/11 attacks directed international attention to the power of political Islam in the Muslim world.
A dozen years ago, my colleague Pippa Norris and I analyzed data on religious trends in 49 countries, including a few subnational territories such as Northern Ireland, from which survey evidence was available from 1981 to 2007 (these countries contained 60 percent of the world’s population). We did not find a universal resurgence of religion, despite claims to that effect—most high-income countries became less religious—but we did find that in 33 of the 49 countries we studied, people became more religious during those years. This was true in most former communist countries, in most developing countries, and even in a number of high-income countries. Our findings made it clear that industrialization and the spread of scientific knowledge were not causing religion to disappear, as some scholars had once assumed.
But since 2007, things have changed with surprising speed. From about 2007 to 2019, the overwhelming majority of the countries we studied—43 out of 49—became less religious. The decline in belief was not confined to high-income countries and appeared across most of the world.
Ronald F. Inglehart, director of the World Values Survey, explains what’s behind the global decline of religion: “Giving Up on God?”
* Mahatma Gandhi
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As we contemplate the cosmic, we might recall that it was on this date in 1631 that Sweden won a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War. Initially a conflict between the Protestant and Catholic states in the Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a general European war, resulting in the deaths of over 8 million people, including 20% of the German population, making it one of the most destructive conflicts in human history.
“Every why hath a wherefore”*…
Physicists have started to realise that causality might not be as straightforward as we thought. Instead of cause always preceding effect, effects can sometimes precipitate their causes. And, even more mindbogglingly, both can be true at once. In this version of events, you would be opening the fridge because the butter was already on the table, and your toast would be perfectly golden both before and after you put it in the toaster. You wouldn’t just be making breakfast – your breakfast would also be making you.
Playing fast and loose with causality does more than make for confusing mornings. It could shake physics to its very foundations. No longer having a definite order of events goes against the picture of the universe painted by general relativity, and even hints at a reality beyond quantum mechanics, the best model we have of the subatomic world. Allowing causality to operate in both directions could allow us to combine these two theories into a single framework of quantum gravity, a goal that has eluded us for over a century. The end of causality as we know it …
In everyday life, causes always precede effects. But new experiments suggests that things might be different when things get very, very tiny: “In the quantum realm, cause doesn’t necessarily come before effect.”
* Shakespeare, Comedy of Errors
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As we get small, we might recall that it was on this date in 1564 that results of the Council of Trent (Concilium Tridentinum) were published, condemning what the Catholic Church deemed to be the heresies of Protestants. The embodiment of the Counter-Reformation, it established a firm and permanent distinction between the two practices of faith.
Council of Trent (painting in the Museo del Palazzo del Buonconsiglio, Trento)
“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s”*…
The American religious landscape is undergoing a dramatic transformation. White Christians, once the dominant religious group in the U.S., now account for fewer than half of all adults living in the country. Today, fewer than half of all states are majority white Christian. As recently as 2007, 39 states had majority white Christian populations. These are two of the major findings from this report, which is based on findings from PRRI’s 2016 American Values Atlas, the single largest survey of American religious and denominational identity ever conducted…
From the non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian Public Religion Research Institute, a fascinating– and illuminating– report on the state of the sacred in the United States: “America’s Changing Religious Identity.”
[TotH to @timoreilly]
* Mark Twain
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As we direct our prayers, we might recall that it was on this date in 506 that the Council of Agde ended at the the Basilica of St. Andrew ( in the Hérault , in Languedoc-Roussillon in France). A gathering of Bishops from across the Visigothic Kingdom (roughly, Southwestern France and much of Spain), it issued 47 canons. One forbade ecclesiastics to sell or alienate the property of the church whence they drew their living, and seems to be the earliest indication of the later system of benefices. Another banned marriage between first and second cousins.
The Basilica of St. Andrew today
“The color of fire and sunset, the color of flamboyant flowers”*…
Clio, Pierre Mignard
Red is “the first color,” the most primordial and symbolic, for thousands of years in the West “the only color worthy of that name.” It is the basic color of all ancient peoples (and still the color preferred by children the world over). It appears in the earliest artistic representations, the cave paintings of hunter-gatherers 30,000-plus years ago. Blood and fire were always and everywhere represented by the color red. Both were felt to be sources of magical power, and both played a role in human communication with gods through bloody sacrifices. Humans also painted their bodies red, and shells and bones painted red are found in abundance in burials from 15,000 years ago…
The history and the meaning(s) of that most fundamental of colors: “Crimson Tidings.”
* Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
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As we take Bill Blass’ advice, “when in doubt, wear red,” we might recall that today is the Catholic Church’s Feast of the Precious Blood, a commemoration of the blood of Jesus. (This is a feast that does not exist in the new Roman Calendar of Pope Paul VI. It is still, however, in the traditional Roman calendar of the 1962 usage.)
“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”*…
From Portland-based comic artist and illustrator Ben Dewey…
… The Tragedy Series. Read it and reap.
* Karl Marx
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As we wander in search of wisdom, we might spare a thought for Pope-elect Stephen II; he died on this date in 752. He been elected Pope three days earlier, but died of a stroke before he could be ordained. He was quickly succeeded (also on this day in 752) by a second “Pope Stephen II” who served until his death in 757.
The Annuario Pontificio attaches to its mention of Stephen II (III) the footnote: “On the death of Zachary the Roman priest Stephen was elected; but, since he died days later and before his consecratio, which according to the canon law of the time was the true commencement of his pontificate, his name is not registered in the Liber Pontificalis nor in other lists of the popes.”
Pope-elect Stephen II
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