Back when I went to school I was told that as information and education spread, religion would die out. This theory has long since been jettisoned by most. If they hadn’t before, last week was enough to cause most die-hard fans of the theory to give up. This is hardly all of the religion stories from last week, but it’s enough to make the point:
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- The Pope releases an encyclical on climate change. Millions will read it, millions more are paying attention.
- Debates over the rightness and wrongness of flying the Confederate flag was fueled by a lot of religious talk about sacrifice, “the soul” of the Confederacy and traditions associated with it.
- The tragic and ugly murder of nine African Americans at a Bible Study in Charleston, gave way to the beauty of the relatives of the victims forgiving the white racist who shot them. And during his eulogy of the Pastor of the church (Clementa Pinckney), President Obama not only spoke about grace, he sang Amazing Grace.
- And then the week ended with much religious reflection concerning the Court ruling in favor of Gay Marriage.
In his reflections on the rise of religion last week, Dr. Martin Marty noted that thirty-six years ago some CIA leadership explained that it had not foreseen the Iranian (some said “Islamic”) Revolution because, while it had kept up on most things in Iran, it paid no attention to religion, because everyone knew that religion had no power in the modern world.
Apparently then – and now – religion plays a major role in shaping our world.