The Atlantic -- Kicking the Secularist Habit by David Brooks

The human race does not necessarily get less religious as it grows richer and better educated. We are living through one of the great periods of scientific progress and the creation of wealth. At the same time, we are in the midst of a religious boom.

Secularism is not the future; it is yesterday's incorrect vision of the future.

There are six steps in the recovery process.

My paraphrasing:

1. Accept that most people want and need God in their lives.

2. Accept that we are entering a time of fear and clashes of fundamentalist world views.

3. Accept that the most popular movements today are religious movements.

4. Don't attempt to explain things with economic or secularistic theories - it is the religious impulse. Judge things on the quality of moral vision.

5. Develop a moral vision that judges right from wrong.

6. Understand we had never been far from this clash of moral absolutes anyway.

Americans are as active as anyone else in the clash of eschatologies. Saddam Hussein sees history as ending with a united Arab nation globally dominant and with himself revered as the creator of a just world order. Osama bin Laden sees history as ending with the global imposition of sharia. Many Europeans see history as ending with the establishment of secular global institutions under which nationalism and religious passions will be quieted and nation-states will give way to international law and multilateral cooperation. Many Americans see history as ending in the triumph of freedom and constitutionalism, with religion not abandoned or suppressed but enriching democratic life.

We are inescapably caught in a world of conflicting visions of historical destiny. This is not the same as saying that we are caught in a world of conflicting religions. But understanding this world means beating the secularist prejudices out of our minds every day.

Wow, worth thinking about.