美国国家公共电台 NPR Why Religion Is More Durable Than Commonly Thought In Modern Society

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's easy to just assume this as fact - as a society becomes more modern, it becomes more secular¹. People separate their religion from their institutions and from parts of their lives. Sociologists have a name for this idea. They call it the secularization³ thesis. Now, research suggests the story is more complicated. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE⁴: Back in 1822, Thomas Jefferson predicted in a letter to a friend that Unitarianism will, ere long, be the religion of the majority from North to South. Unitarianism, a religion that rejects much of traditional Christian⁵ doctrine⁶. It was Jefferson's notion that as America developed economically, technologically⁷ and socially, as more Americans became better educated, they'd become less religious in the traditional sense.

A new study from the Pew Research Center on the relation between education and religion sort of backs up that theory - or seems to. Gregory Smith was the lead researcher.

GREGORY SMITH: College graduates are less likely to say they believe in God with absolute certainty. They are less likely to say that religion is very important in their lives. They're less likely to say that they pray regularly.

GJELTEN: But secularism⁸ has not yet triumphed in the U.S. Seven out of 10 Americans still call themselves Christians⁹. And Smith says in that group - self-identified Christians - education does not seem to weaken their faith.

SMITH: Highly-educated adherents¹⁰ are just as religious, in some cases more religious than their fellow members in the pews who might have less education.

GJELTEN: One example - college-educated Christians are actually more likely than non-college-educated Christians to say they attend church at least once a week. That pattern does not hold for all religious groups. Highly-educated Jews, for example, tend to be less observant than less-educated Jews. But it's clear higher education does not necessarily make you less religious. The secularization thesis is not quite a proven fact, at least not among American Christians.

In Western Europe, it may be a different story. Churches there are largely empty. Europeans over the last 50 years, as they've become more prosperous and better educated, seem to have drifted away from their churches. So why would America be different? One possible reason - European churches have gotten much of their financial support from government.

PHILIP SCHWADEL: When a state creates a relationship with religion like that, the religious leaders no longer have the same impetus¹¹ to go out and urge people to come.

GJELTEN: Philip Schwadel is a sociologist² of religion at the University of Nebraska.

SCHWADEL: They get money from the state through taxes. They don't have to collect money from their congregants in the same way. And when we don't have that kind of establishment such as in the United States, the religious leaders need to in a sense hustle¹² more.

GJELTEN: The result - religion in America may have more vitality¹³. In fact, maybe even in Europe, religion is not as weak as it seems. Linda Woodhead, a British sociologist, has argued, as she did in this debate, that church attendance is not the only measure of how religious a society is.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

LINDA WOODHEAD: Why just look at the churches? Of course some forms of religion decline over time because religion's constantly transforming. So why say that's the only true religion and nothing else counts?

GJELTEN: A similar argument from Philip Schwadel in Nebraska. Religion, he says, may no longer offer people the same explanations for the world that it did in medieval times but it serves other roles as well and always has.

SCHWADEL: Religion provides people with a community. It provides them with psychological support, with economic support. It provides a lot more than simply an understanding of where they are in the world in relation to the afterlife.

GJELTEN: And by those measures, religion may endure even in an increasingly modern world. Tom Gjelten, NPR News.

1 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

2 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

3 secularization   

n.凡俗化，还俗，把教育从宗教中分离

参考例句：

• But secularization of modernity society made the two prerequisites impossibility. 然而现代社会的世俗化使得这两个前提不复存在。 来自互联网
• So heart will be also inadvertently been secularization of. 以至于心也在不经意间被俗化了。 来自互联网

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 doctrine   

n.教义；主义；学说

参考例句：

• He was impelled to proclaim his doctrine.他不得不宣扬他的教义。
• The council met to consider changes to doctrine.宗教议会开会考虑更改教义。

7 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

8 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

9 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

10 adherents   

n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙

参考例句：

• He is a leader with many adherents. 他是个有众多追随者的领袖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The proposal is gaining more and more adherents. 该建议得到越来越多的支持者。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 impetus   

n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力

参考例句：

• This is the primary impetus behind the economic recovery.这是促使经济复苏的主要动力。
• Her speech gave an impetus to my ideas.她的讲话激发了我的思绪。

12 hustle   

v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌)

参考例句：

• It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
• I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。

13 vitality   

n.活力，生命力，效力

参考例句：

• He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后，身强体壮，充满活力。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。