Depto. de Derecho Internacional, Eclesiástico y Filosofía del DerechoFac. de DerechoFALSEsubmitte

Palomino Lozano, Rafael

Docta Complutense

The  importance  of  religion  in  the  development  of  oursocieties today and tomorrowRafael Palomino Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain)It is a privilege and an honor to be here with you today to try to give somecontributions  to  this  discussion  that  deals  about  promoting  humanity  andtransforming the World from a Catholic profile. As it was announced, my talkwill  be  focused  on  the  importance  of  religion  in  the  development  of  oursocieties. Human beings live under a kind of illusion about time. I think that, along history,mankind  has  constantly  repeated  the  same  sentence  “we  live  in  anunprecedented  historical  moment”.  But  I  wonder,  if  all  times  have  beenunprecedented, does the Bible fail in Ecclesiastes, when it teaches us that thereis nothing new under the Sun? The truth is that this time is our time, for better or for worse. No one from thepast or the future will  live it  for us.  To live in the present time we need tounderstand this question: How is our world when it comes to religion?Let’s start with statistics. We all know that surveys are fallible and unreliable,and this is especially true when the deal with religion, due mostly to conceptualissues (what is religion?), to the kind of questions asked or to the populationtarget surveyed. Notwithstanding the foregoing, surveys offer some hints orclues  about  religion  in  the  world  nowadays.  According  to  a  recent  GallupInternational poll published in April 2017, 62% of people in the world definethemselves as religious, 74% of people globally believe we have a soul and 71%believe in God; while 56% believe in heaven, 54% in life after death and 49% inhell1.Simultaneously, a report conducted by Pew Forum reveals that the new homeof  Christianity  is  America  and  Africa,  not  the  Middle  East  and  Europe.  Twoexamples  of  this:  Brazil  has  more than twice  as  many Catholics  as  Italy  andNigeria  now  has  more  than  twice  as  many  Protestants  (broadly  defined  to1 Gallup  International,  Religion  Prevails  in  the  World,  2017,  accessed  21  November  2017,  in  http://gallup-international.bg/en/Publications/2017/373-Religion-prevails-in-the-world.1include Anglicans and independent churches) as Germany, the birthplace of theProtestant Reformation2.It is a commonplace that Western civilization in general and Europe in particularare  experiencing  a  process  of  secularization.  Secularization  is  a  complexphenomenon in which many constituents meet, like institutional affiliation tochurches,  worship  attendance,  beliefs,  cultural  belonging,  moral  behavior,institutional  dimension,  etc.  In  recent  times,  sociologists  have  distinguisheddifferent groups related to their religious beliefs: - those who belong to churches or religious groups;- those who declare themselves spiritual, but do not belong to churchesor religious groups;-  those  who  believe  in  religion,  but  do  not  attend  religious  worshipregularly (believing without belonging)3;- those who do not believe in religion but stem in high value the cultural ,moral and social role of religion (belonging without believing)4;- and those indifferent or hostile to religion or spirituality.These different groups may interact in different ways. Spiritual and religiousmay coincide in  the same people5.  And non-believers  may feel  the social  orinstitutional role of the Church more intensely than many religious people. Inseveral cases, these groups are not watertight compartments and they showthe complexity of measuring the significance of secularization. In  any  respect,  the  figures  contradict  the  plain  conclusion  of  Europe  as  asecularized continent:  in a 2015 survey, the Eurobarometer concludes that thepercentage of Christians in the EU countries is  currently 72% (45% Catholic,11% Protestant, 10% Orthodox, 6% others), and the percentage of those withno religion is 24% (10% atheist, 14% agnostic). The percentage of Muslims isstated as 1.8%, Jews 0.3%, Buddhists 0.4% and Hindus 0.3%. Thirteen of the 28EU  Member  States  can  be  classified  as  predominantly  Catholic  (with  aproportion  of  over  60%),  three  as  predominantly  Orthodox  and  two  as2 Pew Research Center, “The Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population”, accessed 21 November 2017, inhttp://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/.3 G. Davie, Religion in Britain since 1945: Believing without Belonging, 1st. ed., Blackwell, Oxford ; Cambridge, Mass, 1994;“El  “tercer  círculo”  de  los  creyentes  no  practicantes”,  Aceprensa,  31/12/2009,  accessed  27  November  2017,  inhttp://62.22.50.72/articles/el-tercer-circulo-de-los-creyentes-no-practicantes/.4 B. Mountford, Christian Atheist: Belonging Without Believing, O Books, 2011.5 A. Raney; D. Cox; R. P. Jones, “Searching for Spirituality in the U.S.: A New Look at the Spiritual but Not Religious”, PublicReligion  Research  Institute,  2017,  accessed  21  November  2017,  en  https://www.prri.org/research/religiosity-and-spirituality-in-america/.2predominantly Protestant6.  In some intellectual circles, the intuitive idea thatreligious population will increase in the future because religious people havehigher fertility rates has gained strength7. Perhaps this argument can be valid ata  micro scale,  if  we take as  reference for  instance the Haredi  population inIsrael8. Maybe it can not be extrapolated to the whole World.In this landscape, there are three actors who may influence the presence andimportance of religion:  Governments,  Markets  and Mass  Media.  These threeactors  have  a  common  feature:  they  are  what  some  philosophers  call“technostructures”9,  impersonal  corporate  entities  which  include  techniciansand skilled professionals. Governments, Markets and Mass Media are part of thesign of the times. They mean both a threat and an opportunity for religions.Let’s  start  with  some  ideas  about  Governments.  Since  the  beginning  ofModernity,  Governments  have  gained  the  monopoly  of  force  (Hobbes),  inexchange of  a  promise  of  preserving  social  peace and  guaranteeing  humanrights. And all this is quite important, indeed. More recently, the Welfare Statehas  amplified  enormously  its  influence  in  areas  like  health,  the  care  of  theelders, the immigrants or the orphans, the education of disfavored groups, etc.These areas were, and are, an important dimension of the mission of religiouslyinspired organizations who nowadays face a twofold challenge: Complying withthe legal conditions that governments require to develop charitable activitiesand complying with the requirements to obtain public funds. And as you wellknow complying with this might be quite difficult, if not impossible, when thoseconditions are at odds with the organizational religious ethos. At times, Statesappear  before  the  citizens  as  distant  structures,  lacking soul  and credibility,afflicted with the evil of political corruption. And this is one of the reasons whyreligions continue to play a fundamental role in the area of charity, they instillconfidence10. Markets have become global. Markets command the world today. Markets areso powerful  and dominant,  that they impose their  rules on other sectors ofsociety.  Religion is not immune to the influence of those rules. Under a market6 Y. El-Menouar, “The religious landscape in Europe”, Europeinfos. Christian Perspctives on the EU, 209, 2017, accessed 21November 2017, in http://www.europe-infos.eu/the-religious-landscape-in-europe.7 E. P. Kaufmann, Shall the religious inherit the earth?: demography and politics in the twenty-first century , Profile, London,2010.8 Y. Elizur; L. Malkin, The War Within: Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Threat to Democracy and the Nation, 1 edition, The OverlookPress, New York; London, 2013.9 A. Llano; R. Spaemann, Europa: ¿Comunidad de valores u ordenamiento jurídico? El carácter relacional de los valores cívicos,Fundación Iberdrola, Madrid, 2004, pp. 31-32.10 L. R. Iannaccone; E. Berman, “Religious Extremism: The Good, the Bad, and the Deadly”, Public Choice, vol. 128, 1-2, 2006.3scheme, religion is conceived as a commodity in the big marketplace of ideasand  beliefs11.  Religion  has  become  something  that  consumers  can  pick  andchoose, mixing different beliefs according to personal preferences, a cafereria-style religion as it is called. Cafeteria-style religion may imply accommodation,softening requirements, dogmas, ethos, etc., loosing or changing its identity togain followers in a very competitive market. Is it advisable to do that? Moreover,in the long run do strong religions (as they are labeled by secularist sectors)gain anything in this trade-off?Marketed society has accelerated globalization. Besides, global markets (amongother constituents) have provoked what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks  has labeled “acultural climate change”12. The conditions under which religion may flourish inthis cultural climate change are new. In addition, these conditions affects notonly religion, but the whole human ecology Pope John Paul II and Pope Francishave written about13. In this vein, the task of the Church is reduced more andmore to preserve what is human14.There  are  several  opinions  about  Mass  media  and  religion.  Globalizationchanges the perception of the information that has been received, so that verydistant news seems to be nearest than problems of relatives or neighbors. Massmedia has altered partially our way of perceiving, processing and understandingthe  World.   Quite  often,  reality  dwells  not  around  us,  but  only  inside  oursmartphone  or  laptop  screen,  it  is  disembodied:  “in  vitro  veritas”15.  We  seeimages, not persons; perhaps we see problems, conflicts, but circumscribed to ascreen. Mass media centers our attention in what is “newsworthy”, which meansviolence,  unusual  situations,  strange  behavior…  The  media  may  be  moreinclined to teach the "evil" of religions rather than their goodness, which is notnewsworthy. How can religions show their real face before the World? In  sum,  Governments,  Markets  and  Media  may  lessen  or  may  amplify  thevisibility  or  the  importance  of  religion  in  our  societies.  However,  religion  isimportant in itself, notwithstanding the influence of Governments, Markets orMass media. Let me show you some proof of this.11 Abrams v.  United States,  250  U.S.  616  (1919),  Dissenting  opinion  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  The marketplace  of  ideasmetaphor born in  the philosophy of John Milton and John Stuart Mill.12 J.  Sacks,  “Cultural  climate  change  and  the  future  of  religion”,  MercatorNet,  2017,  accessed  22  November  2017,  inhttps://www.mercatornet.com/mobile/view/cultural-climate-change-and-the-future-of-religion.13 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centessimus Annus, May 1st 1991, n. 39; Francis, Encyclical Letter Lodato Si’, May 24th 2015.14 F. Hadjadj, La suerte de haber nacido en nuestro tiempo, Rialp, Madrid, 2016, p. 34.15 Ibid., p. 56.4In their  social  experiment, Richard Sosis and Bradley Ruffle pointed out thatcollective rituals have an important impact on cooperative decisions, so that acomparative study between two kibuzzim ―one of religious believers, anotherof secular― yields more solidarity results in favor of the religious one16. HarvardUniversity  Professor  Dominique  Johnson,  also  argues  that  transcendentcompensation  seems  to  improve  human  cooperation17.  Another  empiricalresearch of Harvard Business School shows that people are more conducive togenerosity with their goods precisely the days of worship, what it has called the"Sunday  effect"18.  John  Atran,  anthropologist  at  the  National  Center  forScientific  Research  in  France,  and  Jeremy  Ginges,  associate  professor  ofpsychology, demonstrated that only a small part of the wars of which we havecurrent  and  historical  record  of  are  caused  by  religious  reasons19.  Anotherrecent comparative sociological study shows that public support for democracyis more intense in the educated classes of both Catholic and Muslim countries;contrary to conventional belief, which assumes that the most fervent believersare  less  receptive  to  democracy.  It  turns  out  that  religious  practice  has  apositive  impact  on  the  desire  for  democracy  in  both  types  of  societies20.  Ingeneral,  religion can be a positive element to achieve democratic regimes inauthoritarian  countries,  if  religions  have  some  detachment  from  politicalpower21. A work published in 2007, showed actions of pacification carried outby  people  of  different  religions22.  Many  faith-based  organizations  workspecifically for the promotion of peace and the resolution of conflicts: amongthem the Catholic Relief Services or the Community of Sant'Egidio. A recentstudy focused on Europe shows a positive correlation between religiosity andhappiness23. Another one centered in the United States concludes that there is16 B. Ruffle; R. Sosis, “Does it Pay to Pray? Evaluating the Economic Return to Religious Ritual”,  Harvard NOM WorkingPapers, Working Paper No. 03-50, 2003, accessed 23 November 2017, in https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=441285.17 D.  Johnson;  J.  Bering,  “Hand  of  God,  Mind  of  Man:  Punishment  and  Cognition  in  the  Evolution  of  Cooperation”,Evolutionary Psychology, vol. 4, 1, 2006, accessed 23 November 2017, in https://doi.org/10.1177/147470490600400119.18 D. K. Malhotra, “(When) are Religious People Nicer? Religious Salience and the «Sunday Effect» on Pro-Social Behavior”,Social  Science  Research  Network,  Rochester,  NY,  2008,  accessed  26  March  2014,  inhttp://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1297275.19 S. Atran; J. Ginges, “Religious and Sacred Imperatives in Human Conflict”,  Science,  vol. 336, 6083, 2012, accessed 26March 2014, in http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6083/855.20 E. J. Bomhoff; M. Gu, “Religion and Support for Democracy: A Comparative Study for Catholic and Muslim Countries”,SSRN eLibrary, 2011, accessed 10 July 2013, in http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1740133#.21 M. Künkler; J. Leininger, “The multi-faceted role of religious actors in democratization processes: empirical evidencefrom five young democracies”, Democratization, vol. 16, 6, 2009.22 D. Little, Peacemakers in action: profiles of religion in conflict resolution, Cambridge University Press, 2007.23 J. Cuñado; J. G. Sison; R. Calderón, “How does religious belief and practice affect happiness? A European perspective”,The  Association  of  Religion  Data  Archives,    accessed  25  November  2017,  inhttp://www.thearda.com/asrec/archive/papers/Sison_Religious_Belief.pdf5a  correlation  between  income  improvement  and  institutional  religiousbelonging, more stable than in secular groups adherence24.In conclusion, religion is important and relevant, from different points of view:demography,  community  ties,  peacebuilding,  spreading  happiness...  At  thesame time, the“cultural climate change”  (in which Governments, Markets andMedia have a huge influence) sets new environmental conditions for religion toflourish. How can religion tackle these new conditions? Following the previouslymentioned Jonathan Sacks, we can say that there are three possible options forreligion nowadays:- The first is to retire to closed communities, which is partly the proposal of theso called Benedict Option25, especially in vogue today, and that is discussed andcontested by many.  -  The  second  could  be  to  conquer  society  by  force,  the  proposal  offundamentalism. This is an option which contradicts the Christian message. AsPope John Paul  II  wrote,  “the Church addresses people with full  respect fortheir freedom. Her mission does not restrict freedom but rather promotes it.The Church proposes; she imposes nothing”26.- The third is to re-inspire or regenerate society, giving people a new form ofhope, proposing religion in the public square. And what does religion mean inthe public square? Quoting Jonathan Sacks: religion means “a consecration ofthe bonds that connect us, religion as the redemption of our solitude, religionas loyalty and love, religion as altruism and compassion, religion as covenantand commitment, religion that consecrates marriage, that sustains communityand helps reweave the torn fabric of society. (…) religion can be a minority, butit can be a huge influence.”27True: religion can prosper in this new scenario. And I think that you can play abig role in all this. Thank you.24 J.  J.  Park,  “Religion  and  Income  Inequality:  The  Paradox  of  the  South”,  Huffington  Post,  07/29/2013,  accessed  27November 2017, in https://www.huffingtonpost.com/julie-j-park/religion-and-income-inequ_b_3659949.html.25 R. Dreher, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, Sentinel, New York, New York, 2017.26 John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Missio, December 7th 1990, n. 39.27 J. Sacks, “Cultural climate change and the future of religion”, cit.6

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The importance of religion in the development of our societies today and tomorrow

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The importance of religion in the development of our societies today and tomorrow

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