New paper describes three stages of religious decline in countries around the world

 

A new paper promoted by the Pew Research Centre describes what it says are the three stages of religious decline in countries around the world. 

In the first stage, people let go of aspects of religion that require more time and resources — things such as attending services. Next, they shed beliefs, partly because they are no longer being reinforced (or policed) in religious settings. 

The last thing to go is identity. People may not attend services or even believe in religious doctrines anymore, but they still call themselves Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus or Buddhist. The authors suggest religious identity hangs on longer since it isn’t burdensome; it doesn’t require anything in the way of time, devotion or resources. 

According to the authors, religion starts strong in rural and agrarian societies. As societies modernize and urbanize, and people become more educated, reliance on religious authority decreases. 

Generational change also drives the shift; each generation tends to be less religious than the previous one, as does religious diversity. 

And the transition from religious to less religious happens no matter what major religion is dominant in a country — Christian, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist. Some countries are further along (e.g. in Europe), others have further to go (e.g. the U.S.). Canada is near the end of the second stage. 

Read more in my Free Press column.

James Dobson and his complicated legacy, including conversion therapy

Some people, when they die, leave complicated legacies. James Dobson, who died at age 89 on Aug. 21, was one of those people. 

Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was known across North America for his strong advocacy of a brand of conservative Christian morality that he packaged as “family values.” His views on disciplining children shaped generations of children, especially in evangelical families. 

For some, Dobson was a positive force. But others viewed him in a very different light. This included Christians who were members of the LGBTTQ+ community. Dobson saw homosexuality as sin and he opposed LGBTTQ+ rights and same-sex marriage. At the same time, he promoted the discredited idea of conversion therapy to change LGBTTQ+ people into heterosexuals. 

One person who knows the negative impact of Dobson’s teaching is Lucas Wilson of Toronto. Wilson, 34, is a member of the LGBBTQ+ community and a survivor of conversion therapy. He has compiled a book of stories about the negative effects of conversion therapy, called Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy. 

Read my column in the Free Press about Dobson, conversion therapy and Wilson’s book.

Is traditional religion obsolete, like the typewriter? New book says yes

When I started my career over 40 years ago, I used a typewriter to write all my stories. It worked fine; I had no complaints back then. 

But now I have a computer with a sophisticated word processing program. I could still use a typewriter, if I wanted — it still would work. But for me, like for most people, typewriters are obsolete. 

Is something similar happening in the world of traditional, or institutional, religion? For Christian Smith, one of the premier scholars about religion in the U.S., the answer is yes. 

Like the typewriter of old, the way religion is still organized into denominations and practiced today—appointment-style services with a few songs and a sermon delivered top-down by clergy with no chance to engage the topic during the delivery—is obsolete for many, especially younger people. 

That’s the argument he makes in his new book Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America (Oxford University Press). 

Read about Smith’s new book in my Free Press column.

Winnipeg bride realizes dream of meeting pope

 

Sometimes you just need a fun and uplifting story—like this one, about a Winnipeg bride who realized her dream of a lifetime when she and her husband received a blessing from Pope Leo XIV in Rome. 

Bénédicte LeMaître, 31, and Stéphan Kosowski, 38, who were married on July 25, got tickets from the Vatican to sit in the “Sposi novelli,” or “newlyweds,” section in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s general audience on July 30. 

“It’s been my dream in life to meet a pope,” said LeMaître. 

But it gets better; after the general audience, Bénédicte and Stéphan received a personal blessing from him.

Read my story in the Free Press.

Sean Feucht: Bringing "revival" to Canada or doing the opposite? Some observations about the controversial American right-wing singer

 

Some observations about Sean Feucht, the controversial American right-wing, anti-LGBTTQ+ and pro-Trump evangelical Christian worship leader, who was slated to perform in Winnipeg’s Central Park on Aug. 20. 

The city refused to grant him a permit for that public space. In other cities where that happened, Feucht claimed he was being persecuted. But was he? Or was he just a victim of his own American hubris for failing to do any homework about Canada. If he had done that, he would have learned we are a different country than the U.S. 

Another thing: Fuecht thinks he is coming to Canada to bring revival to this country. In fact, he will likely end up pushing more people away from Christianity, due to his strident anti-LGBTTQ+ views. 

And finally: His visit, though unwelcomed by many, might be a gift to Canadian Christians. It might prompt them to think that if Feucht’s brand of faith isn’t what they want to look like in society, what does a Canadian form of Christianity look like, anyway? 

Read more about Feucht and his coming to Canada in my latest column in the Winnipeg Free Press.

When it comes to salvation, the "nothings" of the world may save us, author says

 

Donald Trump was so offended by seeing homeless encampments as he rode to play golf on the weekend that he demanded that homeless residents of Washington DC leave the country’s capital or face eviction. 

Trump’s demand mirrors what a Winnipeg city councillor said last month when he called for the removal of encampments on what he called “image routes” in the city—main thoroughfares used by people from the suburbs to go downtown. 

The reason he gave for the proposal was safety, and also for esthetics — they make Winnipeg look bad. The question left hanging seemed clear: Who wants to see encampments on the side of the road on their way to work, shopping or to see a movie? 

When it comes to encampments, David Driedger, lead minister at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg’s West End, doesn’t think we should look away. For him, those tents and tarps and shopping carts should be seen because they might be showing us a way to salvation. That’s the argument he makes in his new book Nothing Will Save Us: A Theology of Immeasurable Life (Pandora Press).

Read my column about Driedger's book in the Free Press.

Driven by faith, frustrated by funding: Faith-based care-home operators say miracles are in short supply when trying to feed residents with 2009-level resources

 

The feeding of the 5,000 with only five loaves and two fishes—that’s the idea that comes to mind for Gary Ledoux, CEO of Bethania Mennonite Personal Care Home when he thinks about how he is going to feed good and healthy meals to residents in 2025 based on a 2009 food budget from the Manitoba government. 

For Laurie Cerqueti, CEO of the Simkin Centre, a Jewish personal care home, the story of how the Pharoah commanded the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to make the same amount of bricks with less straw is the one that sticks with her—and she has to buy more expensive kosher food. 

Both appreciate that the provincial government is under enormous pressure when it comes to health care dollars, but say something needs to be done to ensure seniors in Manitoba—the people who their religious traditions say must be respected and cared for—don’t suffer when it comes to mealtimes. 

Read my story in the Free Press.

Gary Ledoux (right), director of Bethania Personal Care Home, and Delroy Clarke, director of food and environmental services, in the kitchen where staff are preparing lunch for care home residents.