USA: Need for organized religion at issue as interfaith forum offers insights

As much as 16 percent of the U.S. population—about 34 million people—professed no religious affiliation in the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey study. That number is up from 29 million in 2001 and from 14 million in 1990.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Buffalo News
By Jay Tokasz | March 5, 2012

Western New York’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community might be small in numbers, but the group isn’t afraid to broach the big religious issues of the day.

That was the case again Sunday, as it sponsored another provocative interfaith symposium, this time on the question: “Do we need organized religion?”

The question might have been considered ludicrous years ago in what then was a heavily religious United States.

But studies now show that more Americans than ever profess no religious identity — and few faith groups appear to be escaping a prevailing trend toward religious disaffiliation.

“We are confronted with this question quite often, especially from the younger generation,” said Vijay S. Chakravarthy, one of five members of a panel that addressed the topic for three hours in the Millennium Hotel in Cheektowaga.

About 150 people showed up for the discussion.

Chakravarthy, an engineer and leader in the local Hindu community, gave a Hindu perspective on the question, explaining that organized religion helps place human beings into proper context and can counter the corrupting influence of power.

Religion also involves responsibility and leads to the creation of institutions, such as charities and hospitals, that carry out the values of a particular religious traditions, said Rabbi Drorah O. Setel. “From the Jewish perspective, it’s not about being good. . . . It’s about doing good,” she said.

The Rev. Jonathan D. Lawrence, an ordained American Baptist minister and associate professor of religious studies and theology at Canisius College, identified positive aspects of organized religion, such as their promotion of values, justice and community.

Such attributes can be — and often are — fostered outside of a religious context, said Lawrence, who also acknowledged that religion has been used as motivation for horrible misdeeds.

Still, that’s not a reason to dismiss religion, which can still be a powerful and necessary voice in the world for stopping atrocities, too, Lawrence said.

“That voice does not have to be religious, but in many cases, it can be religious,” he said. “Saying we are created in God’s image means we need to take each other seriously,” he said.

Dr. Brahm H. Segal, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and a professor of medicine at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, rejected the notion that people need organized religion to promote moral behavior and a create a better society.

Secular humanism — with its reliance on evidence, trial and error, science and learning from history — is a better guide in the 21st century, said Segal, who identified himself as an atheist.

“Secular humanism is not just a critical evaluation of religious texts and established religions,” he said.

Segal acknowledged that religious rituals often have a useful purpose in communities. But, he added, “I would submit that their value is not contingent upon belief in supernatural claims.”

As much as 16 percent of the U.S. population—about 34 million people—professed no religious affiliation in the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey study. That number is up from 29 million in 2001 and from 14 million in 1990.

Imam Naseem Mahdi, national vice president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, said he has heard the reality of the falling away directly from younger generations.

“When you talk to them they say, ‘When we go to a place of worship it is the same repetition, the same stories of the past over and over and over again. This does not inspire us anymore,’ ” Mahdi said.

But Mahdi maintained that faith and Scripture can evolve and be reinterpreted to complement, not compete with the modern world, including scientific advances.

“Science,” Mahdi maintained, “is the knowledge of the work of God.”

Organized religion helps people develop a “spiritual personality” for the afterlife, Mahdi said.

“Just being a good citizen in our estimation is not good enough,” he said. “The preparation has to be made in this world.”

jtokasz@buffnews.com


Read original post here: Need for organized religion at issue as interfaith forum offers insights