MyDoorsAreOpen
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2003
- Messages
- 8,549
First of all, if you think that 'religion' and 'future' don't belong in a sentence together, kindly keep your comments out of this thread. I realize that haters gonna hate, but you all have plenty of other threads in which to knock or question religion in general. My target audience for this thread is people who accept (regardless of their own beliefs and attitudes) that for better or for worse, human beings will always form organized groups based on spiritual goals.
As with all institutions (nay, all things!), religion exists in a constant state of flux, and changes subtly with the passing of generations and the contributions of individual members. Even faiths like Islam and Orthodox Judaism, which emphasize temporal continuity (one truth for all times for all faithful), show local and temporal nuances in the practice, community quirks, and life attitudes of adherents. It should come as banal that different challenges to overcome in the secular world call for differences in the methods by which people seek spiritual fulfillment.
What are the future trends you foresee in the material world, which you think are most likely to prompt changes in the way people seek their Source and reach for something higher? What do you think those compensatory changes to religion will look like, at the level of organization, practice, and theology?
I think globalization has already had a major impact on the nature of religion. People are increasingly interacting with other people who come from very different worldview backgrounds than themselves, which is a far cry from the world of impenetrable enclaves that our grandparents likely grew up with. There are no more frontiers, no more 'heathen natives beyond the pale' to convert -- just a world full of people who just want to be accepted as they are, and are now living cheek and jowl with people different from themselves. I think this has mostly been a force for good, prompting people toward images of the divine as an all-loving force that doesn't discriminate based on cultural practices, and away from 'my way is the only way' type of thinking.
I think in the future, you're going to see a definite trend away from REVEALED religion. New religions either won't have any sacred text, or will have one that's humbled to the status of a rough guide, not meant to be taken literally or followed word for word. I think traditional revealed religions will place less and less emphasis on the infallibility or finality of their revealed scripture. I think the trend will be to see the word of God as having been heard by many, many people throughout history, rather than by just one special person long ago.
In an age where computers and other machine technology physically isolates us and puts us into plastic cocoons more and more, I think new faiths are going to stress personal spirituality and spiritual development, and the cultivation of a personal relationship with the Source, and group membership and contribution will become more and more optional and informal. I see this as analogous to the way World of Warcraft is at the same time an informally communal, but mostly profoundly individual, experience.
As with all institutions (nay, all things!), religion exists in a constant state of flux, and changes subtly with the passing of generations and the contributions of individual members. Even faiths like Islam and Orthodox Judaism, which emphasize temporal continuity (one truth for all times for all faithful), show local and temporal nuances in the practice, community quirks, and life attitudes of adherents. It should come as banal that different challenges to overcome in the secular world call for differences in the methods by which people seek spiritual fulfillment.
What are the future trends you foresee in the material world, which you think are most likely to prompt changes in the way people seek their Source and reach for something higher? What do you think those compensatory changes to religion will look like, at the level of organization, practice, and theology?
I think globalization has already had a major impact on the nature of religion. People are increasingly interacting with other people who come from very different worldview backgrounds than themselves, which is a far cry from the world of impenetrable enclaves that our grandparents likely grew up with. There are no more frontiers, no more 'heathen natives beyond the pale' to convert -- just a world full of people who just want to be accepted as they are, and are now living cheek and jowl with people different from themselves. I think this has mostly been a force for good, prompting people toward images of the divine as an all-loving force that doesn't discriminate based on cultural practices, and away from 'my way is the only way' type of thinking.
I think in the future, you're going to see a definite trend away from REVEALED religion. New religions either won't have any sacred text, or will have one that's humbled to the status of a rough guide, not meant to be taken literally or followed word for word. I think traditional revealed religions will place less and less emphasis on the infallibility or finality of their revealed scripture. I think the trend will be to see the word of God as having been heard by many, many people throughout history, rather than by just one special person long ago.
In an age where computers and other machine technology physically isolates us and puts us into plastic cocoons more and more, I think new faiths are going to stress personal spirituality and spiritual development, and the cultivation of a personal relationship with the Source, and group membership and contribution will become more and more optional and informal. I see this as analogous to the way World of Warcraft is at the same time an informally communal, but mostly profoundly individual, experience.
