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The Triumph of Faith: Why the World Is More Religious Than Ever
Everybody seems to take it for granted that the world is getting more secular-that faith is doomed by modernity. Scientists, secularists, and atheists applaud the change; religious believers lament it. But here's the thing: they're all wrong, and acclaimed author Rodney Stark has the numbers to prove it. The Triumph of Faith explodes the myth that people around the world are abandoning religion. In this lively, eye-opening book, Stark marshals an unprecedented body of data-surveys of more than a million people in 163 nations-to paint the full picture that both scholars and popular commentators have missed. He examines why this astonishing growth of religion is happening and what it means for our future.
7 pages, Audio CD
First published November 15, 2015
About the author
Rodney Stark
80 books261 followersRodney Stark grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, and began his career as a newspaper reporter. Following a tour of duty in the U.S. Army, he received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society. He left Berkeley to become Professor of Sociology and of Comparative Religion at the University of Washington. In 2004 he joined the faculty of Baylor University. He has published 30 books and more than 140 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome. However, the greater part of his work has been on religion. He is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. He also has won a number of national and international awards for distinguished scholarship. Many of his books and articles have been translated and published in foreign languages, including Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Slovene, and Turkish.
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December 28, 2015
Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Faith: Why the World Is More Religious Than Ever (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2015).
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Fifty years ago, Anthony F. C. Wallace expressed the belief of many Western intellectuals when he wrote, “Belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out all over the world as a result of the increasing adequacy and diffusion of scientific knowledge…. The process is inevitable.” Scientific knowledge, it was thought, would lead to material wellbeing, and material wellbeing would lead to a secular society. For mid-century Western intellectuals, the future looked godless.
A funny thing happened on the way to secularity, however. As Rodney Stark writes in The Triumph of Faith, “The world is not merely as religious as it used to be. In important ways, it is much more intensely religious than ever before; indeed, it is far more churched” (emphasis added). To prove this point, Stark takes readers on a whirlwind tour of global religious trends.
Stark notes that secularization theorists “limit the focus [of their thesis] to major, well-organized faiths such as Christianity and Hinduism. Thus, five people who have ceased attending church and say they no longer believe in Jesus are counted in favor of the demise of the faith, despite the fact that they now are devoted spiritualists.” He goes on to carefully define terms:
“Supernatural refers to forces or entities beyond or outside nature and having the capacity to suspend, alter, or ignore physical forces.”
“Religion is a form of supernaturalism that postulates the existence of gods, conceived of as supernatural beings having consciousness and desires.”
“Churched religions consist of relatively stable, organized congregations of lay members who acknowledge a specific religious creed.”
“A creed is a set of beliefs to which all members of a religious group are expected to assent, and those who participate in churched religions are expected to do so regularly and exclusively.”
“Both unchurched religions and unchurched supernaturalism lack organized congregations and usually lack a creed” (emphasis in original).
With these distinctions in mind, Stark is able to demonstrate, using survey data from the Gallup World Polls, that “a massive religious awakening is taking place around the world.” In many places, this religious awakening is occurring in the adherents of “churched religions.”. He points to the growth of Christianity in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and China; of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa; and of Hinduism in India as examples of this trend.
In other places, it is occurring in the adherents of “unchurched religions” and “unchurched supernaturalisms,” which persist in Europe, Japan, and the Asian Tigers despite their modernization. The proliferation of spiritualities in these places is evidence, Stark thinks, of the truth of the statement often attributed to G. K. Chesterton: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.”
The United States has always proven a challenge to the secularization thesis. Though one of the first and wealthiest “modern” nations, Americans have long exhibited high degrees of churched religious behavior. In a series of studies over the last decade, the Pew Research Center has argued that the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans—the so-called “Nones”—is growing at the expense of religiously affiliated Americans. Stark dismisses this as evidence for secularization by pointing out that most of the Nones used to be nominal believers. They didn’t actually change their beliefs or practices, in other words. All they did was drop the religious name. Moreover, many of these people continue to pray, believe in supernatural forces, and even participate in organized religious activities. (Something similar could be said about “secular” Europeans.)
Throughout the book, Stark hints at the reasons why the world is more religious than ever, as his subtitle puts it. He points out that too often secularization theorists have assumed that “the primary social function of religion is to provide people with relief from their material misery.” Karl Marx articulated this so-called “deprivation theory” when he wrote that religion is “the sigh of the oppressed creature…the opium of the people.” Unfortunately, the data don’t bear out such a conclusion. “For more than fifty years, studies in the United States and other Western nations have consistently found that the lower classes are conspicuously absent from the churches on Sunday mornings. Moreover, the major religious movements that have erupted throughout the centuries, in both the East and the West, were generated not by the suffering masses but by dissatisfied elites.”
If not material deprivation, however, what? Stark suggests “spiritual deprivation.” He writes, “The overwhelming majority of people on earth do think about the meaning and purpose of life.” In the conclusion, he writes: “People want to know why the universe exists, not that it exists for no reason, and they don’t want their lives to be pointless. Only religion provides credible and satisfactory answers to their great existential questions. The most ardent wishes of the secularization faithful will never change that.”
By way of concluding evaluation, let me make two points:
First, Stark has identified a crucial flaw in both the secularization thesis and the deprivation thesis that underlies it. The data he cites don’t seem to support either. Supernaturalism and religion, in both their churched and unchurched varieties, haven’t gone away and don’t appear to be going away any time soon.
Second, for Christians, triumph of “faith” is not the same thing as the triumph of the Faith. What we seek is not the growth of generic faith, general spirituality, or non-Christian religions. Rather, we seek more people confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. That is happening, of course, but until Christ returns, we still have a mission to be witnesses for Him “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
-----
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
Fifty years ago, Anthony F. C. Wallace expressed the belief of many Western intellectuals when he wrote, “Belief in supernatural powers is doomed to die out all over the world as a result of the increasing adequacy and diffusion of scientific knowledge…. The process is inevitable.” Scientific knowledge, it was thought, would lead to material wellbeing, and material wellbeing would lead to a secular society. For mid-century Western intellectuals, the future looked godless.
A funny thing happened on the way to secularity, however. As Rodney Stark writes in The Triumph of Faith, “The world is not merely as religious as it used to be. In important ways, it is much more intensely religious than ever before; indeed, it is far more churched” (emphasis added). To prove this point, Stark takes readers on a whirlwind tour of global religious trends.
Stark notes that secularization theorists “limit the focus [of their thesis] to major, well-organized faiths such as Christianity and Hinduism. Thus, five people who have ceased attending church and say they no longer believe in Jesus are counted in favor of the demise of the faith, despite the fact that they now are devoted spiritualists.” He goes on to carefully define terms:
“Supernatural refers to forces or entities beyond or outside nature and having the capacity to suspend, alter, or ignore physical forces.”
“Religion is a form of supernaturalism that postulates the existence of gods, conceived of as supernatural beings having consciousness and desires.”
“Churched religions consist of relatively stable, organized congregations of lay members who acknowledge a specific religious creed.”
“A creed is a set of beliefs to which all members of a religious group are expected to assent, and those who participate in churched religions are expected to do so regularly and exclusively.”
“Both unchurched religions and unchurched supernaturalism lack organized congregations and usually lack a creed” (emphasis in original).
With these distinctions in mind, Stark is able to demonstrate, using survey data from the Gallup World Polls, that “a massive religious awakening is taking place around the world.” In many places, this religious awakening is occurring in the adherents of “churched religions.”. He points to the growth of Christianity in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and China; of Islam in the Middle East and North Africa; and of Hinduism in India as examples of this trend.
In other places, it is occurring in the adherents of “unchurched religions” and “unchurched supernaturalisms,” which persist in Europe, Japan, and the Asian Tigers despite their modernization. The proliferation of spiritualities in these places is evidence, Stark thinks, of the truth of the statement often attributed to G. K. Chesterton: “When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.”
The United States has always proven a challenge to the secularization thesis. Though one of the first and wealthiest “modern” nations, Americans have long exhibited high degrees of churched religious behavior. In a series of studies over the last decade, the Pew Research Center has argued that the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans—the so-called “Nones”—is growing at the expense of religiously affiliated Americans. Stark dismisses this as evidence for secularization by pointing out that most of the Nones used to be nominal believers. They didn’t actually change their beliefs or practices, in other words. All they did was drop the religious name. Moreover, many of these people continue to pray, believe in supernatural forces, and even participate in organized religious activities. (Something similar could be said about “secular” Europeans.)
Throughout the book, Stark hints at the reasons why the world is more religious than ever, as his subtitle puts it. He points out that too often secularization theorists have assumed that “the primary social function of religion is to provide people with relief from their material misery.” Karl Marx articulated this so-called “deprivation theory” when he wrote that religion is “the sigh of the oppressed creature…the opium of the people.” Unfortunately, the data don’t bear out such a conclusion. “For more than fifty years, studies in the United States and other Western nations have consistently found that the lower classes are conspicuously absent from the churches on Sunday mornings. Moreover, the major religious movements that have erupted throughout the centuries, in both the East and the West, were generated not by the suffering masses but by dissatisfied elites.”
If not material deprivation, however, what? Stark suggests “spiritual deprivation.” He writes, “The overwhelming majority of people on earth do think about the meaning and purpose of life.” In the conclusion, he writes: “People want to know why the universe exists, not that it exists for no reason, and they don’t want their lives to be pointless. Only religion provides credible and satisfactory answers to their great existential questions. The most ardent wishes of the secularization faithful will never change that.”
By way of concluding evaluation, let me make two points:
First, Stark has identified a crucial flaw in both the secularization thesis and the deprivation thesis that underlies it. The data he cites don’t seem to support either. Supernaturalism and religion, in both their churched and unchurched varieties, haven’t gone away and don’t appear to be going away any time soon.
Second, for Christians, triumph of “faith” is not the same thing as the triumph of the Faith. What we seek is not the growth of generic faith, general spirituality, or non-Christian religions. Rather, we seek more people confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. That is happening, of course, but until Christ returns, we still have a mission to be witnesses for Him “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
-----
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
April 19, 2023
Rodney Stark is of course known by everyone who calls themselves a sociologist of religion. The progenitor of not just one but two theories of religion, his academic work did much to reinvigorate some key debates in the discipline from the 1980s to 1990s. In his late years, he focused on popular books, which I’d heard did not live up to his reputation as a scholar. So it was with some trepidation that I picked up The Triumph of Faith.
It was much worse than I imagined.
If I had to condense Stark in his later years in one sentence, it would be ‘spiritual warfare with statistics’. Cutting corners everywhere, Stark rams his thesis that the world is more religious than ever down the throats of his readers/listeners. Arrogance is rhetorically powerful, but the content is mainly sad.
So, Stark’s main proof of the failure of the secularisation thesis is that the number of atheists in the world is low (!). A first-year sociology undergraduate knows that this has very little to do with secularisation. He happily confuses secularisation and secularism (which may explain the weakness of his argument) and his examples are so sloppy it hurts. Just to give two: Stark talks about ‘the Middle Ages’ in Europe and then as proof of his argument cites historical sources from… 1550–1700. About Sweden, he tells us that ‘socialist’ economist Alva Myrdal ‘led’ the Church of Sweden as Minister for Ecclesiastical matters until separation of church and state in 2006. The problem is that Myrdal died in 1986 and the separation happened in 2000.
Loose treatment of facts is one thing, but listening to the audiobook, you would think that the Cold War never ended. Apparently, in Europe, socialists hide around every corner, trying to prevent the faithful from practicing their religion. Again, facts notwithstanding, this shows how wrong he gets the secularisation thesis. Secularism has very little to do with secularisation (except to some extent in the former Soviet Bloc). Stark throws social scientific detachment to the winds from the first page and lays theological judgement on pretty much everyone else but evangelical Protestants on almost every page.
There is plenty of other bad stuff here as well. Stark cites Samuel Huntington approvingly and tells us that European countries have apparently ‘made it illegal’ to discuss Islam in a negative tone. What starts as a racist undertone becomes fully overt in the chapters on Islam, which repeat Christian Nationalist and Zionist talking points. America First is strong with this one, since everything that is bad happens in Europe or elsewhere, whereas the American free market is the saviour.
The post-truth approach to facts and the opinionated writing is so grating that my first reaction was to put it down to ignorance. But it is worse: it is bad faith. I refuse to believe that a social scientist of Stark’s stature did not know or did not know how to find out about how things really are. Instead, he has made the choice of foregoing his academic training in order to tell a story. This is a much sadder state of things than ignorance.
There is supreme irony in the fact that Stark calls his academic rivals ‘the secularisation faithful’. His is a Trumpian effort—before Trump!—with the same approach to truth and the same sense of superiority over ‘lesser’ nations and religions. It is, as said, spiritual warfare with statistics. It is a religious and political pamphlet. For social scientists, this book is data, not analysis.
It was much worse than I imagined.
If I had to condense Stark in his later years in one sentence, it would be ‘spiritual warfare with statistics’. Cutting corners everywhere, Stark rams his thesis that the world is more religious than ever down the throats of his readers/listeners. Arrogance is rhetorically powerful, but the content is mainly sad.
So, Stark’s main proof of the failure of the secularisation thesis is that the number of atheists in the world is low (!). A first-year sociology undergraduate knows that this has very little to do with secularisation. He happily confuses secularisation and secularism (which may explain the weakness of his argument) and his examples are so sloppy it hurts. Just to give two: Stark talks about ‘the Middle Ages’ in Europe and then as proof of his argument cites historical sources from… 1550–1700. About Sweden, he tells us that ‘socialist’ economist Alva Myrdal ‘led’ the Church of Sweden as Minister for Ecclesiastical matters until separation of church and state in 2006. The problem is that Myrdal died in 1986 and the separation happened in 2000.
Loose treatment of facts is one thing, but listening to the audiobook, you would think that the Cold War never ended. Apparently, in Europe, socialists hide around every corner, trying to prevent the faithful from practicing their religion. Again, facts notwithstanding, this shows how wrong he gets the secularisation thesis. Secularism has very little to do with secularisation (except to some extent in the former Soviet Bloc). Stark throws social scientific detachment to the winds from the first page and lays theological judgement on pretty much everyone else but evangelical Protestants on almost every page.
There is plenty of other bad stuff here as well. Stark cites Samuel Huntington approvingly and tells us that European countries have apparently ‘made it illegal’ to discuss Islam in a negative tone. What starts as a racist undertone becomes fully overt in the chapters on Islam, which repeat Christian Nationalist and Zionist talking points. America First is strong with this one, since everything that is bad happens in Europe or elsewhere, whereas the American free market is the saviour.
The post-truth approach to facts and the opinionated writing is so grating that my first reaction was to put it down to ignorance. But it is worse: it is bad faith. I refuse to believe that a social scientist of Stark’s stature did not know or did not know how to find out about how things really are. Instead, he has made the choice of foregoing his academic training in order to tell a story. This is a much sadder state of things than ignorance.
There is supreme irony in the fact that Stark calls his academic rivals ‘the secularisation faithful’. His is a Trumpian effort—before Trump!—with the same approach to truth and the same sense of superiority over ‘lesser’ nations and religions. It is, as said, spiritual warfare with statistics. It is a religious and political pamphlet. For social scientists, this book is data, not analysis.
April 17, 2019
Je regrette de ne pas avoir lu ce livre plus tôt, c'est une des lectures les plus encourageantes et les plus importante de cette année. Rodney Stark, sociologue spécialiste des religions montre région par région à quel point la thèse de la sécularisation est fausse, et que dans l'ensemble le monde est plus religieux qu'au 19e et 20e siècle, et non l'inverse!
Le livre est très sérieux, et en même temps très accessible avec une biographie intéressante. Il bat en brèche beaucoup de mythes sociologiques courants à notre époque, et dont moi-même j'étais victime sans le savoir: Par exemple, l'athéisme ne progresse pas en Europe, seulement les religions informelles. Le recul des églises en France est dû à l'effondrement du libéralisme religieux, particulièrement celui du catholicisme post-Vatican II. On remarque en revanche que les groupes les plus conservateurs - "à plus haute tension"- sont prospères et progressent régulièrement. Les jeunes évangéliques ne sont pas plus libéraux que leurs aînés, c'est plutôt l'inverse. En fin de compte, l'idée que le monde est en train de basculer dans l'apostasie et l'irreligion est un mensonge grotesque et toxique. Nous sommes au contraire dans une époque particulièrement fertile pour le christianisme.
Lisez le cette année. C'est une supplication instante.
Le livre est très sérieux, et en même temps très accessible avec une biographie intéressante. Il bat en brèche beaucoup de mythes sociologiques courants à notre époque, et dont moi-même j'étais victime sans le savoir: Par exemple, l'athéisme ne progresse pas en Europe, seulement les religions informelles. Le recul des églises en France est dû à l'effondrement du libéralisme religieux, particulièrement celui du catholicisme post-Vatican II. On remarque en revanche que les groupes les plus conservateurs - "à plus haute tension"- sont prospères et progressent régulièrement. Les jeunes évangéliques ne sont pas plus libéraux que leurs aînés, c'est plutôt l'inverse. En fin de compte, l'idée que le monde est en train de basculer dans l'apostasie et l'irreligion est un mensonge grotesque et toxique. Nous sommes au contraire dans une époque particulièrement fertile pour le christianisme.
Lisez le cette année. C'est une supplication instante.
February 22, 2016
The title of Rodney Stark's latest analysis of global religious dynamics, "The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious than Ever" is accurate enough, but is also slightly disingenuous. A more honest title would be "The Triumph of Conservative, Evangelical Christianity." The key takeaways of the book could be summarized as 1) global Christianity is noble, vibrant and ascendant, 2) global Islam is degenerate, violent and malignant, 3) all other forms of spirituality are trivial, uninformed and inconsequential. This is an oversimplification, but it does capture the essence of Stark's worldview and the bias that informs it.
Throughout the book, Stark extols the virtues of the Gallup data upon which it is based, except when it undercuts his argument. When the data supports an alternate reading, he dismisses it as a result of the limitations of surveys and in several places goes so far as to say that 'even though participants responded one way, they didn't really mean it and would have responded differently had the question been worded better.' He also restricts responses to a certain range of possibilities. For example, a central assertion of the book as that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to become Christian. Only the lower educated classes adhere to Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. In the nations he selects as his exemplars, the data seems to support this, however he does not take into account any other possible responses such as those who leave formal religious affiliation as their level of education grows, which has been well established (at least in the west) by Pew and others.
Stark's rejection of the secularization hypothesis is most likely correct. The decline in participation and affiliation among mainline denominations does not indicate a corresponding rise in atheism and rejection of any spiritual worldview. Stark convincingly supports the assertion that spiritual concerns and even supernatural beliefs are both persistent and pervasive throughout the world. At the same time he dismisses any "unchurched" form of spirituality as having no relationship to personal morality or public good.
Similarly, Stark has no use for liberal denominations. Much of his criticisms here are quite insightful and likely deserved. With reasonable justification, he places the origin of mainline Christianity's demise at the feet of William Ellery Channing, one of the fathers of my own denomination. Stark's critiques are delivered in such a condescending and dismissive tone, however, that the value of his analysis is lost in hubris. He summarizes the contributions of Paul Tillich, perhaps the most influential theologian of the twentieth century, as "tautological nonsense."
There are moments when Stark's bias shines through with breathtaking clarity. Consider his assessment of the role of religion in the development of science":
"Science began and flourished only in the West. Why? Because only Christians and Jews conceived of God as a rational creator and concluded that therefore the universe must run according to rational principles that could be discovered. Elsewhere in the world it was assumed that the universe was an incomprehensible mystery, an object suitable for meditation only."
What is most stunning about this is that Stark is a respected academic. Yes, he is a sociologist but that is no excuse for a blatant ignorance or misrepresentation of history.
In the end Stark makes clear that there is only one reasonable approach to life and society. He states this frankly in his final paragraph. "Only religion provides credible and satisfactory answers to the great existential questions." As a person of faith, I take great exception to this assertion. I also think it is a dangerous worldview, especially in light of Stark's assertions that only a certain form of religious observance and spirituality is valid. As the glowing reviews from the conservative press (Wall Street Journal, Deseret News, etc.) this book will be taken as proof that pluralism, especially in the realm of religious and spiritual practice, is the road to personal and social degradation. I have many friends from many different faith traditions that put the lie to this assertion.
Throughout the book, Stark extols the virtues of the Gallup data upon which it is based, except when it undercuts his argument. When the data supports an alternate reading, he dismisses it as a result of the limitations of surveys and in several places goes so far as to say that 'even though participants responded one way, they didn't really mean it and would have responded differently had the question been worded better.' He also restricts responses to a certain range of possibilities. For example, a central assertion of the book as that the more educated you are, the more likely you are to become Christian. Only the lower educated classes adhere to Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. In the nations he selects as his exemplars, the data seems to support this, however he does not take into account any other possible responses such as those who leave formal religious affiliation as their level of education grows, which has been well established (at least in the west) by Pew and others.
Stark's rejection of the secularization hypothesis is most likely correct. The decline in participation and affiliation among mainline denominations does not indicate a corresponding rise in atheism and rejection of any spiritual worldview. Stark convincingly supports the assertion that spiritual concerns and even supernatural beliefs are both persistent and pervasive throughout the world. At the same time he dismisses any "unchurched" form of spirituality as having no relationship to personal morality or public good.
Similarly, Stark has no use for liberal denominations. Much of his criticisms here are quite insightful and likely deserved. With reasonable justification, he places the origin of mainline Christianity's demise at the feet of William Ellery Channing, one of the fathers of my own denomination. Stark's critiques are delivered in such a condescending and dismissive tone, however, that the value of his analysis is lost in hubris. He summarizes the contributions of Paul Tillich, perhaps the most influential theologian of the twentieth century, as "tautological nonsense."
There are moments when Stark's bias shines through with breathtaking clarity. Consider his assessment of the role of religion in the development of science":
"Science began and flourished only in the West. Why? Because only Christians and Jews conceived of God as a rational creator and concluded that therefore the universe must run according to rational principles that could be discovered. Elsewhere in the world it was assumed that the universe was an incomprehensible mystery, an object suitable for meditation only."
What is most stunning about this is that Stark is a respected academic. Yes, he is a sociologist but that is no excuse for a blatant ignorance or misrepresentation of history.
In the end Stark makes clear that there is only one reasonable approach to life and society. He states this frankly in his final paragraph. "Only religion provides credible and satisfactory answers to the great existential questions." As a person of faith, I take great exception to this assertion. I also think it is a dangerous worldview, especially in light of Stark's assertions that only a certain form of religious observance and spirituality is valid. As the glowing reviews from the conservative press (Wall Street Journal, Deseret News, etc.) this book will be taken as proof that pluralism, especially in the realm of religious and spiritual practice, is the road to personal and social degradation. I have many friends from many different faith traditions that put the lie to this assertion.
August 3, 2020
There are a great many books that are written that lament the seeming hold of ethical monotheism in general and Christianity in particular on the West or in the world at large [1]. What this book does is seek to reframe the discussion of faith by discussing the fact that the world is increasingly religious, although necessarily in a churched sense, and that even in areas that are not Christian, especially in East Asia, educated elites are far more likely to be Christian than uneducated masses, and thus Christianity has become increasingly influential because Christianity has been able to thrive in competition better than many other faiths. The author also explores the rise of superstition in those areas that are not friendly to the ethical demands of Christianity or the fellowship in churches. The author also points, out, though, that going to church in many of these areas was not particularly common in the past, though, so the lack of fellowship in the present in many areas is also not particularly uncommon. Overall, in the author's thinking, Chesterton's comment that those who do not believe in God will believe in anything appears to be well-supported by data.
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and is divided into ten chapters. The author begins with an introduction about how the truth confounds those who are the faithful in the idea that the world is becoming increasingly secular. After that the author provides a global picture of faith (1). This leads to a discussion of various regions around the world, as the author talks about the grand illusions of the lack of faith in Europe (2), the churching of Latin America in the face of competition between Catholics and Pentecostals (3), the intensification of Islam (4), the increasing Christian piety of Sub-Saharan Africa (5), the religious but unchurched Japanese (6), the gradual conversion of China to a more Christian faith (7), faith in the four Asian tigers (8), which show similar patterns of being increasingly Christian the more educated one happens to be, the Hindu revival in India (9), which has caused a problem with India's religious minorities, and the religious nature of America (10). All of these chapters, filled with charts and interesting cross-tabulated statistics, lead to a conclusion where the author discusses why it is that faith endures, after which the book ends with notes, a bibliography, and an index.
If one concedes the author's point for the sake of argument, it is worth noting that the author does not consider the triumph of faith to be necessarily a good thing. The author notes, for example, that the immensely common nature of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa has not led to better government in those places, and thus the people of that area live in misery despite being converted to a better religious belief system than they had before with their native superstitions. The author also notes that increased religious belief, if that belief is unchurched, does not lead to increased moral behavior, which is precisely what one would expect from a religion that lacks a strong enough public component. Additionally, the author notes that the increased religious faith in the world of various kinds has also increased conflict between different faiths, which is what we have seen in the world around us, which is something we ought to pay attention to as the source of trouble. We might wake up to think that increasing faith was a good thing only to realize that it caused a great deal of trouble because the faith was not the right one.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
This book is a bit more than 200 pages and is divided into ten chapters. The author begins with an introduction about how the truth confounds those who are the faithful in the idea that the world is becoming increasingly secular. After that the author provides a global picture of faith (1). This leads to a discussion of various regions around the world, as the author talks about the grand illusions of the lack of faith in Europe (2), the churching of Latin America in the face of competition between Catholics and Pentecostals (3), the intensification of Islam (4), the increasing Christian piety of Sub-Saharan Africa (5), the religious but unchurched Japanese (6), the gradual conversion of China to a more Christian faith (7), faith in the four Asian tigers (8), which show similar patterns of being increasingly Christian the more educated one happens to be, the Hindu revival in India (9), which has caused a problem with India's religious minorities, and the religious nature of America (10). All of these chapters, filled with charts and interesting cross-tabulated statistics, lead to a conclusion where the author discusses why it is that faith endures, after which the book ends with notes, a bibliography, and an index.
If one concedes the author's point for the sake of argument, it is worth noting that the author does not consider the triumph of faith to be necessarily a good thing. The author notes, for example, that the immensely common nature of Christianity in sub-Saharan Africa has not led to better government in those places, and thus the people of that area live in misery despite being converted to a better religious belief system than they had before with their native superstitions. The author also notes that increased religious belief, if that belief is unchurched, does not lead to increased moral behavior, which is precisely what one would expect from a religion that lacks a strong enough public component. Additionally, the author notes that the increased religious faith in the world of various kinds has also increased conflict between different faiths, which is what we have seen in the world around us, which is something we ought to pay attention to as the source of trouble. We might wake up to think that increasing faith was a good thing only to realize that it caused a great deal of trouble because the faith was not the right one.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...
May 5, 2024
This book didn’t have much meat, it should have been an article. Basically it’s just that the polls about religiousness say that people are less likely to be a member of a church but they still believe, pray and practice. A minority are atheists and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change dramatically. He reviews the data in a variety of counties all over the world that show basically the same thing.
But what really annoyed me was the anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bias. Israel good, Jews good, Zionism good, antisemitism bad. He even gave examples of antisemitism that were very similar to the recent anti-antisemitism bill that passed the house, which states that criticizing the state of Israel is antisemitism. He goes on and on about her terrible Muslims are and all their misdeeds and speak as if the Palestinians hate the Jews for being different and not their violent acts. No other group of people get the same treatment. No king lecture about the misdeeds of Africans, just barely mentioning the Rwanda genocide without emotional appeal. No long screed about the evils of communist China. He even reviewed the religious violence in India and gives a dispassionate explanation of tit for tat violence including the execution of the prime minister by her bodyguards. If I had read this year last year I would not have noticed it but now it slaps you in the face. The constant propaganda that Israel is just in wiping the Palestinians from the face of the earth, priming us American citizens to happily pay for it without complaint. I’m completely sick of it. I’m trying to eat books to get away from the upsetting news of the day and my impotence in stopping the genocide. But the Zionist propaganda machine has infected so many. The book is tried to start just before this one was similar but at least that one was written by a Jew. It’s disheartening that Christians are falling for it as well.
But what really annoyed me was the anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bias. Israel good, Jews good, Zionism good, antisemitism bad. He even gave examples of antisemitism that were very similar to the recent anti-antisemitism bill that passed the house, which states that criticizing the state of Israel is antisemitism. He goes on and on about her terrible Muslims are and all their misdeeds and speak as if the Palestinians hate the Jews for being different and not their violent acts. No other group of people get the same treatment. No king lecture about the misdeeds of Africans, just barely mentioning the Rwanda genocide without emotional appeal. No long screed about the evils of communist China. He even reviewed the religious violence in India and gives a dispassionate explanation of tit for tat violence including the execution of the prime minister by her bodyguards. If I had read this year last year I would not have noticed it but now it slaps you in the face. The constant propaganda that Israel is just in wiping the Palestinians from the face of the earth, priming us American citizens to happily pay for it without complaint. I’m completely sick of it. I’m trying to eat books to get away from the upsetting news of the day and my impotence in stopping the genocide. But the Zionist propaganda machine has infected so many. The book is tried to start just before this one was similar but at least that one was written by a Jew. It’s disheartening that Christians are falling for it as well.
January 24, 2019
Overall a great book, which powerfully argues that religion is not in the decline worldwide, contrary to popular beliefs among Western intellectuals. A page-turner without a doubt.
I would have given 5 stars if it wasn’t for this one part towards the end that left me shaking my head: “But the truth is that modern science arose because of religion. Science began and flourished only in the West.”
Perhaps it is true that science has flourished overwhelmingly in the West for the last 400 years or so, but history does not support the argument that science flourished only in the West. The Islamic world, Chinese civilization, and the Gupta Empire in India all had golden ages when science flourished to a much greater degree than in the West.
As Thomas Sowell mentions in his book *Migrations and Cultures*, during much of the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire was far more advanced in terms of scientific research than Europe (the West). As far as I know, this is the historical consensus.
The author’s mistake in saying that science flourished only in the West is so large that I am taking off a full star from my rating. Besides that mistake though, this was an excellent book, and I learned a lot from it.
I would have given 5 stars if it wasn’t for this one part towards the end that left me shaking my head: “But the truth is that modern science arose because of religion. Science began and flourished only in the West.”
Perhaps it is true that science has flourished overwhelmingly in the West for the last 400 years or so, but history does not support the argument that science flourished only in the West. The Islamic world, Chinese civilization, and the Gupta Empire in India all had golden ages when science flourished to a much greater degree than in the West.
As Thomas Sowell mentions in his book *Migrations and Cultures*, during much of the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire was far more advanced in terms of scientific research than Europe (the West). As far as I know, this is the historical consensus.
The author’s mistake in saying that science flourished only in the West is so large that I am taking off a full star from my rating. Besides that mistake though, this was an excellent book, and I learned a lot from it.
January 6, 2020
This is a fascinating book because it so convincingly debunks a common myth. The myth is the "secularization thesis"--the belief (common among sociologists and some "religious studies" professors) that as societies modernize, they inevitably become more secular. Using data from the Gallup World Poll and some other international surveys, he shows that this is simply untrue. Although Stark is a Christian, the focus is not exclusively or even primarily on Christianity. For example, he notes that some religions such as Buddhism or Chinese ancestor worship are not "churched" religions (they do not have a tradition of meeting for collective worship or in congregations), believers do not necessarily consider themselves "religious" or even as having a "religion." Stark shows that even in Western Europe, widely seen as the most secular part of the world, majorities of people hold supernatural beliefs in things like astrology. He also debunks the notion that religious divisions tend to turn people off of any religion. The opposite is true--religious competition tends to strengthen all faiths (just like Protestant missionary activity in Latin America actually strengthened Catholicism there.) I highly recommend this book--but true atheists will find it discouraging!
September 13, 2022
An excellent, entertaining and eye-opening overview of religiousness in the world. In western society both those in favor of religion and against religion, think faith is on the decline. Why? Because we're told so by the "secularization faithful" (As Rodney Stark calls them) who claim religion is a remnant of the past.
However, Rodney Stark suggest otherwise by bringing up extensive survey data from around the world, that suggests most people and more than ever believe and practice religion.
I've read other books and reports that claim that the well known but misleading secularization hypothesis is false and that Religion is on the rise. That I already know, but in this book Rodney Stark also shows that Religion isn't back from a religious past. It never disappeared in the first place, in fact Religion is more popular than ever before.
He shows this thought provoking fact in a entertaining way of writing by comparing survey data from almost the entire world.
However, Rodney Stark suggest otherwise by bringing up extensive survey data from around the world, that suggests most people and more than ever believe and practice religion.
I've read other books and reports that claim that the well known but misleading secularization hypothesis is false and that Religion is on the rise. That I already know, but in this book Rodney Stark also shows that Religion isn't back from a religious past. It never disappeared in the first place, in fact Religion is more popular than ever before.
He shows this thought provoking fact in a entertaining way of writing by comparing survey data from almost the entire world.
May 15, 2024
It may feel like we are living in a faithless world but in fact more people are seeking out God more than ever before. The vast majority of people think about the meaning and purpose of life and don't just adopt the beliefs handed down to them. Instead they reflect and evaluate on their own and come to their own conclusions. There is an ongoing global religious awakening with a majority of people claiming to be part of one of the major religions and people are going to church more than ever before. Europe bucks the trend and for those of us living in this part of the world, it may feel like religion is dying out. It's not. There is hope and this book provides it. A great read.
January 22, 2018
An interesting read. He argues secularism is not increasing by using a broad definition of faith. He is definitely interested in Christian faith and a conservative faith. There are a lot of tables of data.
August 9, 2019
Excellent book that gives the lie to the secularist sociologists who say the world is becoming atheistic. "Nones" include those who do believe in God but don't practice a specific religion. Most people believe in angels and other spirits even if they aren't "religious".
May 13, 2018
Compiling the best evidence from surveys and putting it into historical prospective, the author debunks the myth that the world is becoming more secular as it becomes more modern and developed.
May 23, 2022
Extremely informative, but extremely dry.
April 11, 2016
First things first. Stark in this book is evaluating the presence of religion globally, not just Christianity. This is not a chronicle of growth or decline of Christianity but religion including all the major ones (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) as well as many other world religions including Hinduism, Buddhism and local, regional, folk religions.
Stark lays his work out geographically, not chronologically or by religion. In many places there is enough context given to connect the history and growth of a religion to its region.
Stark does a good job challenging the recent death cries of the church and religion in general. In fact he points out that the truth is religious beliefs and practices are growing worldwide. One area of note was the discussion of the growth of those who call themselves "none" (no religious affiliation). Stark points out that this number has not changed in over 40 years. These same people used to call themselves Methodist, Lutheran etc. even though they never attended religious services. In all practicality they have always been "nones", now they just admit it. The other recent trend in religion reporting is the exodus of young people from churches. Again this number has not changed in over 40 years. Yes there is a certain age group of young adults who leave the church. What is left out is most of these same people return after marriage and kids. They may not always return to the same local church they left but they do return.
Stark does spend time in defending his sources and numbers as well as the weaknesses of some recent survey methods. (Amount of people returning surveys. Amount of people completing surveys and other factors)
Two other items to note.
1. When comparing the education levels of the religious it seems the more educated are the more religious. In fact in some Asian regions the more educated are leaving their familial folk religion for more contemporary religious systems.
2. When comparing the connection between moral behavior (stealing, cheating etc.) and religious belief there seems to be little correlation. The religious respondents had the same moral standards as the non-religious.
In the end this is a well researched and informative book. If you like charts, tables, statistics, surveys and polls there is plenty here to substantiate Stark's claims.
For those who have been bombarded with all the funeral announcements lately about the death of religion, here is a dissenting voice. Religion (and Christianity) is alive and well on planet earth and shows no signs of decline. For those of us with strong spiritual beliefs (I am a practicing Christian in the Reformed tradition attending a non-denominational church) there is hope. People have not abandoned belief in a God, a spiritual realm or an afterlife. Many are still attempting to navigate their way through these beliefs and need reasonable voices presenting truth and not panic and doom.
Stark lays his work out geographically, not chronologically or by religion. In many places there is enough context given to connect the history and growth of a religion to its region.
Stark does a good job challenging the recent death cries of the church and religion in general. In fact he points out that the truth is religious beliefs and practices are growing worldwide. One area of note was the discussion of the growth of those who call themselves "none" (no religious affiliation). Stark points out that this number has not changed in over 40 years. These same people used to call themselves Methodist, Lutheran etc. even though they never attended religious services. In all practicality they have always been "nones", now they just admit it. The other recent trend in religion reporting is the exodus of young people from churches. Again this number has not changed in over 40 years. Yes there is a certain age group of young adults who leave the church. What is left out is most of these same people return after marriage and kids. They may not always return to the same local church they left but they do return.
Stark does spend time in defending his sources and numbers as well as the weaknesses of some recent survey methods. (Amount of people returning surveys. Amount of people completing surveys and other factors)
Two other items to note.
1. When comparing the education levels of the religious it seems the more educated are the more religious. In fact in some Asian regions the more educated are leaving their familial folk religion for more contemporary religious systems.
2. When comparing the connection between moral behavior (stealing, cheating etc.) and religious belief there seems to be little correlation. The religious respondents had the same moral standards as the non-religious.
In the end this is a well researched and informative book. If you like charts, tables, statistics, surveys and polls there is plenty here to substantiate Stark's claims.
For those who have been bombarded with all the funeral announcements lately about the death of religion, here is a dissenting voice. Religion (and Christianity) is alive and well on planet earth and shows no signs of decline. For those of us with strong spiritual beliefs (I am a practicing Christian in the Reformed tradition attending a non-denominational church) there is hope. People have not abandoned belief in a God, a spiritual realm or an afterlife. Many are still attempting to navigate their way through these beliefs and need reasonable voices presenting truth and not panic and doom.
July 12, 2016
important distinction between churched and unchurched religions and supernaturalisms
Where people report 'no religion' it is still highly correlated with practices that almost anyone would think of as 'religious'
importance of pluralism for participatory churched religions: examples of latin america, sub-saharan africa, negative example european state churches
anti-semitism alarmingly high throughout the world
every major world religion is growing except perhaps buddhism
'Moreover, a national survey found that 55 percent of Icelanders believe in the existence of huldufolk, or hidden people, such as elves, trolls, gnomes, and fairies. 21 Consequently, planned highways are sometimes rerouted so as not to disturb various hills and large rocks wherein huldufolk may dwell, and Icelanders planning to build a new house often hire “elf spotters” to ensure that their site does not encroach on huldufolk settlements. 22 In addition, half of Icelanders have visited a fortune teller, 23 and spiritualism is very widely practiced; it is popular even among intellectuals and academics. 24 According to a Reuters dispatch (February 2, 2015), a rapidly growing group of Icelandic neopagans broke ground for a temple dedicated to worship of the old Norse gods. And only 3.5 percent of Icelanders claim to be atheists.'
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 127-134).
Seventy-seven percent of people in China claim to have no religion. But nearly all of these same “irreligious” Chinese frequently flock to folk temples, where they offer prayers and gifts to various gods in pursuit of particular requests. 25 If this is not religion, then most of the world has always been irreligious and secularity is the normal state of affairs.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 137-140).
The deeper one digs into the data, the clearer it becomes: the popular notion of an increasingly secularizing world is not merely wrong but actually the opposite of what has been taking place.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 202-203).
Europe has a religious “market” highly distorted by government policies of favoritism.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 1163-1164).
Where people report 'no religion' it is still highly correlated with practices that almost anyone would think of as 'religious'
importance of pluralism for participatory churched religions: examples of latin america, sub-saharan africa, negative example european state churches
anti-semitism alarmingly high throughout the world
every major world religion is growing except perhaps buddhism
'Moreover, a national survey found that 55 percent of Icelanders believe in the existence of huldufolk, or hidden people, such as elves, trolls, gnomes, and fairies. 21 Consequently, planned highways are sometimes rerouted so as not to disturb various hills and large rocks wherein huldufolk may dwell, and Icelanders planning to build a new house often hire “elf spotters” to ensure that their site does not encroach on huldufolk settlements. 22 In addition, half of Icelanders have visited a fortune teller, 23 and spiritualism is very widely practiced; it is popular even among intellectuals and academics. 24 According to a Reuters dispatch (February 2, 2015), a rapidly growing group of Icelandic neopagans broke ground for a temple dedicated to worship of the old Norse gods. And only 3.5 percent of Icelanders claim to be atheists.'
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 127-134).
Seventy-seven percent of people in China claim to have no religion. But nearly all of these same “irreligious” Chinese frequently flock to folk temples, where they offer prayers and gifts to various gods in pursuit of particular requests. 25 If this is not religion, then most of the world has always been irreligious and secularity is the normal state of affairs.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 137-140).
The deeper one digs into the data, the clearer it becomes: the popular notion of an increasingly secularizing world is not merely wrong but actually the opposite of what has been taking place.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 202-203).
Europe has a religious “market” highly distorted by government policies of favoritism.
Stark, Rodney. The Triumph of Faith: Why the World is More Religious Than Ever (Kindle Locations 1163-1164).
August 1, 2016
Based on data vs pew research, data from 2005 thru 2015 160 to 163 nations annual, atheism less than 5% secularization declining, perhaps less traditional and faithful more intensely religious, 20%,-30% atheism Vietnam NKorea China however nontraditional growing, 39%Christian 31%Muslim, Muslim declining due to replacement rate down, 16th century bad behavior in church, lazy church when govt funded strong churches and competition, dominant churches become leftist with little competition, weekly attendance by large families within 4 generations, where protestants successful catholics more active, offer appealing faith not political promises, islam is militant faith currently a muslim revival with poor western culture, 913 honor killings in Pakistan, most muslim terror against other muslims, southern Africa went from tribal to Christian, cultural crisis in Japan youth, china religions awakening, appeal to most educated least as Buddhist, Mao returned to origins vs progressive, USA 82% cite presence of God 4% atheist same Jewish revival, modern science evolved from religion, 80%-90% life has purpose.
June 9, 2016
Super interesting book
Read
May 3, 2016(Audiobook)
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