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AR 25:42 - Why Materialism "Fails Miserably" at Happiness
In this issue:
MEANING - choosing between 'happy and inconsistent,' or 'consistent and unhappy'
WORLD RELIGIONS - the powerful link between fertility and faith
YOGA - Gen Z "more stressed than any other generation," will yoga help?
Apologia Report 25:42 (1,499)
October 21, 2020
MEANING
"Scientific Materialist Manifesto: The Pursuit of Meaning in a Godless Universe" by Melissa Cain Travis <melissacaintravis.com> (Assistant Professor of Christian Apologetics, Houston Baptist University) -- opens with her reflection that "Einstein frequently used theological language in his remarks about the stunning rationality exhibited by the workings of the universe. ...
"Since Einstein ... the scientific community is now widely regarded as the ultimate authority on truth about the world." [And this will likely remain the case, despite innumerable conflicting scientific claims related to the COVID-19 crisis.] Authorities for science "often step well beyond the domain of their respective specialties to make pronouncements on questions traditionally reserved for theology and philosophy....
"What then, of ... our inescapable intuitions about the intrinsic value of humanity, moral duties, individual purpose, and ultimate meaning?" Scientific materialists are often unwilling to embrace "wholesale nihilism," and many writers "have produced fascinating works on cosmology that also address perennial questions that lie outside of science's purview. They go to great ... lengths to reassure their readers that meaning, purpose, morality, and so on can still be had....
"In his latest book, Until the End of Time [1] theoretical physicist and science celebrity Brian Greene <briangreene.org> details [the life of the universe and] attempts to make space in his scientific materialism for legitimate meaning, morality, and purpose in human life." Brief examples and discussion follow.
Assessing The Big Picture [2] by Sean Carroll <preposterousuniverse.com>, Travis writes "He adopts a view he calls 'poetic naturalism,' which encompasses both the objective reality science explicates, as well as our inner human experience. ... Poetic naturalism, he says, 'asks us to take the dramatic step of viewing meaning [as if it is] up to you, me, and every other person to create meaning and purpose for ourselves.' ...
"We should simply pretend rather than face up to the logical outworking of scientific materialism. ... How is such self-delusion substantively different from what atheists like to call the 'emotional crutch' of religion? Pot. Meet kettle."
Travis concludes that Greene and Carroll's project "fails miserably," explaining that they illustrate "the impossibility of living both consistently and contentedly within the worldview of scientific materialism." Her reference to William Lane Craig's way of stating the dilemma <www.bit.ly/36AuNxr> is fitting: "If one lives consistently, he will not be happy; if one lives happily, it is only because he is not consistent." Christian Research Journal, 43:2 - 2020, pp30-34. [4]
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WORLD RELIGIONS
In "The Future of World Christianity Is African," Baylor University historian Philip Jenkins <www.bit.ly/2Hcl0Dw> reports that he has just written a book discussing "the intimate relationship between fertility rates and levels of religiosity."
In Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions [3], Jenkins argues that "societies with high fertility rates have high levels of religious faith and practice, while declining fertility correlates closely to shrinking institutional faith, and to secularization. Let me stress, this doesn't necessarily mean a decline in actual belief, but rather in expressions of faith: believing can continue after belonging has all but vanished. ...
"Tell me the fertility rate of a particular nation, and I can make a reasonable assessment of the strength or weakness of institutional faith in that society. ...
"Although the relationship isn't perfect, we see this trend in the growth of the so-called 'nones,' those rejecting any identification with a religious tradition or denomination. Already, the number of American 'nones' is around a quarter of the population, comparable to the figures for evangelical Protestants or for Catholics. ...
"I believe the trends will indeed accelerate the decline of faith in Western societies. But I want to stress another component of these current trends that has received far less attention in media reports: some parts of the world will retain high rates of both fertility and faith in the coming decades. Those regions will increasingly be the global centers of Christianity.
"Above all, this means Africa. To return to [a previously mentioned] Lancet <www.bit.ly/3jKEHQI> study: 'The population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to triple in size to more than three billion people by 2100.' Already by 2050, a list of the 20 countries with the world's largest populations will include at least six black African nations: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. All are still marked by high fertility, with TFR's [total fertility rates] far-above-replacement level. Taken together, according to this projection, those countries alone will have more than 1.1 billion citizens."
In the words of Christopher Murray <www.bit.ly/2Ha1Dek> (and author of the Lancet article): "We will have many more people of African descent in many more countries as we go through this. Global recognition of the challenges around racism are going to be all the more critical if there are large numbers of people of African descent in many countries. ...
"The rate of numerical change is astonishing - and accelerating. By 2050 a list of the 10 countries worldwide with the largest Christian populations will include several African members, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, the DRC, and Uganda. Between 1900 and 2050, the African share of the global Christian population will have grown from barely 2 percent to more than 33 percent."
Taking Kenya by itself: "In religious terms, the Christian proportion of the population has unquestionably swelled since the mid-20th century, to reach a modern figure of perhaps 80 percent or 85 percent. But the increase in raw numbers is staggering - growing from perhaps 4 million Christians in the mid-1960s to more than 40 million today and conceivably to 75 million by the middle of this century. Here, as in all sub-Saharan African nations, levels of religious practice are staggering by the standards of Europe or North America." He also discusses Nigeria and Uganda. (The Gospel Coalition, Aug 7 '20) <www.bit.ly/3d9fgpF>
Also see helpful commentary by religion journalist Terry Mattingly at <www.bit.ly/3jnwjWw>
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YOGA
"Can Yoga and Meditation Fix the College Mental Health Crisis? - College counseling centers are strapped to provide the resources students need. New yoga and meditation programs may help alleviate that burden" by Ellen O'Brien (Yoga Journal, Aug 28 '20) -- "According to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, Gen Z is more stressed than any other generation. ...
"The number of college students struggling with mental health has been on the rise. According to the organization Active Minds, a nonprofit that supports mental health awareness and education for young adults, 39 percent of college students experience a significant mental health issue. In 2017, a study published by Psychiatric Services found that the percentage of college students with lifetime mental health diagnoses increased by 14 percent from 2007 to 2017. And an APA survey reports that 61 percent of students who sought counseling on campus reported feelings of anxiety, while 49 percent said they were depressed.
"However, even as the need for mental health services on campuses increases, colleges find themselves unable to meet that demand. A 2017 survey ... found that college students across the country were waiting weeks for a counseling appointment."
"In a study conducted by the Yale Child Study Center and the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, researchers found <www.bit.ly/2TeAskF> that the SKY Campus Happiness program - a set of classes aimed at teaching students and faculty members how to meditate, breathe, practice yoga, and develop social connections - improved six areas that students may struggle with, notably depression, stress, mental health, mindfulness, positive affect, and social connectedness, while other programs only produced benefits in one of those areas or none at all." The program is being used at 58 different college campuses. <www.bit.ly/3da2tmU>
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SOURCES: Monographs
1 - Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe, by Brian Greene (Knopf, 2020, hardcover, 448 pages) <www.amzn.to/2vmMXm8>
2 - The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself, by Sean Carroll (Dutton, 2017, paperback, 496 pages) <www.amzn.to/2I49R7D>
3 - Fertility and Faith: The Demographic Revolution and the Transformation of World Religions, by Philip Jenkins (Baylor Univ Prs, 2020, hardcover, 266 pages) <www.amzn.to/2FaYN7N> - see author's summary at <www.bit.ly/3kuEyBv>
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