Liel Leibovitz on the Return of Paganism

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Tikvah

Judaism, News, Politics, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

It's sometimes argued that, as material and political and economic conditions improve in a society, that society tends to grow less religious. Polls have seemed to demonstrate for years the validity of this argument in America. Gallup, for instance, recently found that fewer than half of all Americans belong to a house of worship or religious congregation, down from about 70% at the turn of the century some 20 years ago.

But perhaps such polls show do not show that Americans are becoming less religious at all. Perhaps they suggest instead that Americans are simply less devoted to traditional forms of biblical faith. That's the background for the argument advanced in the cover story of the May 2023 issue of Commentary, called "The Return of Paganism." Written by Liel Leibovitz, the editor at large of Tablet, the essay argues that the diminution of traditional forms of Christian worship has not made Americans less religious but has instead opened up space for inescapable religious impulses to find expression in beliefs that are awfully similar to ancient forms of paganism. To talk about these ideas, their manifestations in American culture and politics, and their implications, Leibovitz joins Mosaic editor Jonathan Silver.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's an idea out there that has a very long intellectual history and distinguished origins.
0:13.8	The idea is that as we proceed in modern times, and our material conditions get better,
0:20.7	and our rights are better protected by
0:23.0	governments that are animated by freedom and equality, and we have access to more scientific
0:28.8	discovery, and more technological wonders that provide for our ease and comfort, and our health
0:34.8	improves, and more people are wealthier, in these conditions, will grow
0:39.4	less religious. Now, despite its very long intellectual history and distinguished origins,
0:46.7	I don't think that idea, let's call it the secularization thesis, is true. And I'll say
0:53.2	why I don't think the secularization thesis is true in And I'll say why I don't think the secularization thesis is true
0:56.4	in just a moment. But before I do, I want to give the secularization thesis its due. Let's say
1:02.9	that, unlike me, you do think that as material and political and economic conditions improve,
1:08.6	we tend to grow less religious. Well, if you believe that,
1:12.5	you'd have some real evidence that cannot be very easily dismissed. Poll after poll, for years,
1:19.0	has demonstrated that citizens of America and Western Europe grow less religious by the year.
1:25.0	The Wall Street Journal recently found that only 39% of Americans believe
1:29.6	that religion is very important in their lives, and Gallup found in 2021 that fewer than half
1:36.3	of all Americans belonged to a house of worship or religious congregation. That figure was about
1:41.7	70% at the turn of the century some 20 years ago.
1:45.8	And of course, nobody would claim that voluntary, self-defined, empirical measurements like
1:50.5	these are all that reliable or deep, and real students of religion and society can probe them
1:56.5	in all kinds of ways.
1:57.9	But the general picture of an American society that was once predominantly
	...

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