New Religion in a Godless World

 #Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, "Among the nonbelievers," The Nation, January 2021. - Tara Isabella Burton starts her book, 'Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World,' by establishing the ostensible faithlessness of the the contemporary United States. " 'About a quarter of American adults ,' she notes, 'say they are religiously unaffiliated, and for those born after 1990, that number climbs to almost 40 percent.' In fact,' she writes, 'the religious nones, as they are often known, are the single biggest religious demographic in America, as well as the fastest-growing one.' "

"Burton identifies two new factors that reinforce the institutionalist bent: the rise of consumer capitalism and the advent of the Internet." "Together, these juggernauts have instilled in Americans, especially younger generations, the expectation that we should be able to meet our need for the sacred in the same ultrapersonalized, digitized way that we seek romance or find tonight's entertainment on Netflix." "Wellness is explicitly,  if not a full-fledged religion, at least religion-adjacent." "They want community, a sense of purpose, and a coherent narrative to make sense of the world. And although none of these subcultures necessarily meet all of criteria for a religion, they no longer have to 'mix-and-match' cultures..." 

"But much of today's social activism grows out of the imperative to change unacceptable conditions, not from a desire to fill a spiritual absence, or achieve 'earthly divinity,' and [Burton's] portrayal at times elides that distinction." "Old-school religions have been responsible for untold repression, violence, and misery over the centuries; many would see their withering [away] as a sign of progress."

#Vinson Cummingham, "Personal Jesus," The New Yorker, January 4 & 11, 2021. - "[Thomas] Jefferson had no use for original sin, or salvation by grace alone, or the insistence that Christ -- or anyone else; stand down Lazarus -- had arisen from the dead." "One of Jefferson's first, and most lasting, points of dissent with Christian orthodoxy, had to do with the Trinity." 

"In a real and profound way, the Enlightenment seems to have been the creed in which Jefferson most deeply believed." "Later in the Declaration, Jefferson insisted that all people are 'created' equal, but he also made sure to invoke 'the Laws of Nature and Nature's God,' a favorite phrase of the deists of his day." 

ADDENDUMS:

*Bryce Covert + Mike Koncyal, "Blame Mitch," The New Yorker, December 28, 2020. - "A liability shield would essentially provide a get-out-of-jail card to businesses, offering them nearly blanket protection against Covid-19-related lawsuits, including those claiming that an employee's reckless behavior led to an employee's illness or death from the disease." 

*Anna Wiener, "You've Got Mail," The New Yorker, January 4 & 11, 2021. - "The Internet is flooded with disinformation and conspiracy theories. Amazon's self-publishing arm has become a haven for extremist content." "Carving out new ways for writers to make money from their work is surely a good thing: the United States lost sixteen thousand newsroom jobs this [past] year, and many mainstream publications have struggled to overcome issues like discrimination , clubbiness, and prohibitively low compensation." 

*The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could enforce a law requiring that abortion pills be obtained in person at approved health care facilities, and not through mail or delivery.