1 in 4 Canadians declare affiliation to no religion, but why are so many surprisingly religious?

[cbayer]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/05/26/one-in-four-canadians-declare-affiliation-to-no-religion-but-why-are-so-many-nones-surprisingly-religious/

Joseph Brean | May 26, 2014 | Last Updated: May 26 7:28 PM ET

More than 8,000 academics are gathered in St. Catharines, Ont., this week for the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, presenting papers on how we live, love, learn and clash. Over the coming days, the National Post will highlight some of the most compelling. Today, Joseph Brean writes about how suburbanites find their own paths to individuality:

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Research shows that many people who are not affiliated with any formal religion are often religious nevertheless.
To sociologists of religion, they are the “nones.”

Officially non-religious, they are not Catholic, nor Jewish, nor Sikh, Muslim, Buddhist or Anglican. Asked for their religion, they tick the box for “none.”

But this is not quite right. Rather, according to new research presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, the “nones” look more like “somes,” with a great many still behaving as “spiritual seekers” in their own way.

In an age of “individually constructed belief systems and personal spiritual practices,” the rise of the nones “may not necessarily be coupled with a complete decline of other types of religiosity,” according to Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, a Canadian studying at Oxford University.

This is the buffet view of religion and, as her research suggests, Canadians are still hungry, even when they deny it.

more at link

[immoderate]

1. Because most people have some compartment where their thinking is "supra-rational."

They think that talking to the dice will improve the chance of a "natural."

--imm

[cbayer]

2. Agree and it varies tremendously from person to person.

Interesting to me how some "beliefs" are shared across large numbers of people, while others are entirely idiosyncratic.

I used to love to watch Garciaparra go through his rituals at bat and I definitely developed my own when my son was a pitcher.

Sports seem to really bring them out in a lot of people. And, of course, so does religion.

[immoderate]

5. And as long as uncertainty exists, people will search for a way around it.

--imm

[cbayer]

7. And I would venture a guess that uncertainly will always exist.

But is it a search for a way around it, or just different paths that people follow in their attempts to resolve it or get closer to some sense of certainty?

[immoderate]

9. Well, if you bet on your lucky number, and you WIN...

It's because it's your lucky number, or it's a random event. But to some there cannot be random events. There are theists, and determinists, and spiritualists, oh my!

It's that old argument. Is the universe WYSIWYG, or not?

--imm

[cbayer]

10. I have this thing I call parking karma.

I am a very courteous driver, rarely in a hurry and generally kind to other drivers.

I swear to you that my ability to get that perfect parking space is uncanny. It only happens when I am the one driving and it does not fail. I have found the spot in front of the specific place I'm going in the french quarter, next the hotel in very crowded parts of Mexican cities and on and on.

Now, I know logically that this is most likely totally coincidence and not real, but there is something really weird about it.

I also like to hear people's stories about experiences they have involving what they believe to be contact with people that have died. While very skeptical, I am not willing to fully dismiss them as I have no evidence to the contrary.

That's pretty much where I am with religion as well.

I just don't know and never expect to.

[Trillo]

3. Because some or all religions have established dogmatic authoritarianism

as their central tenant.

I should add: I'm not Canadian.

[cbayer]

4. Not clear on what you are saying.

Are you saying that most people crave some kind of dogmatic authoritarianism in their lives? Or that they may have grown up with it and think they still need it?

Or something else entirely?

What do you think of the researcher's take on "individualization"? That would seem to directly contradict the notion of dogmatic authoritarianism being a factor in this group staying religious to some extent.

Now that I think on it, perhaps that is exactly your point.

[Trillo]

6. Yes, I think you figured it out.

I didn't mean to be, but brevity is often cryptic.

[cbayer]

8. Thanks. I tend agree with you, particularly as a response to what the

fundamentalist sections of the major religions have done and continue to do.