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God Is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith Is Changing the World
newstatesman.com ^ | 21 May 2009 | John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Posted on 05/31/2009 2:44:05 PM PDT by mjp

Contrary to what evangelical rationalists preach, it is perfectly possible both to be modern and to believe in God. But there is no reason to assume that the American religious model will prevail

“Religion is proving perfectly compatible with modernity in all its forms, high and low.” This conclusion by John Micklethwait, editor of the Economist, and Adrian Wooldridge, the magazine’s Washington bureau chief, seems calculated to enrage secular rationalists of all stripes.

Whether Marxian or Millian, socialist or liberal, secular rationalists have held one tenet in common: religion belongs to the infancy of the species; the more modern a society becomes, the less room there is for religious belief and practice. Never questioned, this is what lies behind the hot-gospel sermons of evangelical atheists: if you want to be modern, say goodbye to God.

At bottom, the assertion that religion is destined to die out is a confession of faith. No amount of evidence will persuade secular believers that they are on the wrong side of history, but one of the achievements of God Is Back is to show how implausible, if not ridiculous, their view of history actually is.

(Excerpt) Read more at newstatesman.com ...


TOPICS: Religion
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1 posted on 05/31/2009 2:44:05 PM PDT by mjp
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To: mjp

Every-expanding heresies called religion. LOL.


2 posted on 05/31/2009 2:46:50 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ([Advocate for] Mitt Romney[?], God help you, but you're on the wrong website ~ Jim Robinson)
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To: big'ol_freeper

Why is religion growing? Because the religious have kids and adopt if they can’t, atheists have few to no kids and discourage others from having them.
If demographics is destiny, the atheists chose to not participate in the future.


3 posted on 05/31/2009 3:46:01 PM PDT by tbw2 (Freeper sci-fi - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
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