As we study secularism, humanist, and atheism, we should be aware of the views of those who stand completely opposed to these things. I thought this opinion piece summed up these views very well:
The fatal fall of
religion in America will affect everything
As our society moves away from faith, there is
more loneliness and lack of community
By Don Feder - - Tuesday, March 29, 2022
OPINION:
A just-published survey of the decline of
religion in America should set off alarm bells in our heads. The growth of
secularism is one more cause for anxiety about the future of our republic.
The study by the prestigious American
Enterprise Institute — “Generation Z and the future of faith in America”
(released on March 24) — shows a steady erosion of religious affiliation and
the corresponding rise of atheism and agnosticism.
Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012) is the least
religious in our history, with 34% reporting that they aren’t affiliated with a
church, synagogue or another religious body. That’s nine points higher than for
Generation X and five points higher than millennials.
Alexis de Tocqueville, that astute observer of
early 19th-century America, said he found the genius of our young republic in
the moral voice of its churches. Today, that voice is increasingly silenced.
That's the great challenge to secularism: to create a form of secular community that repels loneliness and isolation. As Bertrand Russell put it, that would be a kind of cosmic citizenship, a feeling of being a citizen of the universe. What an achievement, to really feel and live that.
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