{"id":88589,"date":"2020-01-14T09:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=88589"},"modified":"2020-01-14T07:03:38","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T12:03:38","slug":"aj-coming-to-god-without-freedom-is-not-coming-to-god-philosopher-charles-taylor-on-seeing-god-in-church-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=88589","title":{"rendered":"(AJ) \u2018Coming to God without freedom is not coming to God\u2019: Philosopher Charles Taylor on seeing God in church decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why are fewer people going to church?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s very hard to put your finger on this, but this is what I\u2019m trying to work out: that there\u2019s another kind of spiritual life, spiritual searching, going on to a great extent in our contemporary West\u2014sometimes it\u2019s in totally different religions, or totally non-religious\u2014and that this somehow is taking off at the expense of an earlier way of expressing one\u2019s spirituality, which involves being members of national churches or in the case of a very diverse country like Canada, at least a church which you know is very big and solid in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that religion is disappearing, or spirituality is disappearing; it\u2019s taking different forms. If you put yourself in the mindset of people, in particular of younger people, who are concerned about the meaning of life, concerned about becoming better people, more loving, more open, etc., and are seeking in some way some discipline\u2014it could be meditation, it could be various things\u2014if you put yourself in the mindset of these people, when they go to the pews the least<\/span> bad thing is that they don\u2019t feel it\u2019s very relevant! The worst thing is they feel that their whole way of approaching this is not really appreciated and it may be seen as threatening the people in the pews. Now of course this is perhaps more the case\u2014I\u2019m a Catholic\u2014in the case of the Catholic church [laughs], where you have these very backward-looking people who are screaming abuse at [Pope] Francis and so on [laughs]!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the extreme case, where you actually feel, \u201cI\u2019d better rush out of this place [laughs]! Or I\u2019m going to be badly treated.\u201d But the least worrying or problematic [for those outside the church] is just that this is not a concern that people [in the pews] recognize, this searching concern. \u201cEverything is all settled, and we\u2019re all together in these pews affirming it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Philosopher Charles Taylor on a more inclusive world and winning $1M Berggruen Prize: https:\/\/t.co\/jdD2dcouKm<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/rwSgDID7iu<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) October 5, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n