I recently read a very interesting book, Society Without God by Phil Zuckerman.
Zuckerman is an American sociologist whose book studies the spiritual (or aspiritual) outlook of Nordic Europeans—specifically Danes and Swedes—and how the decline in their religious concerns is reflected in the state of their society. Zuckerman conducted his research mostly in Denmark primarily through lengthy first-person interviews. He relates portions of these conversations throughout the book, with little emphasis on statistics and data (though that is interspersed), making the study highly readable and quite compelling. One of Zuckerman’s primary undertakings in this study is to refute the oft-touted theory that if a nation “turns its back on God,” then moral chaos and disastrous consequences will certainly ensue. According to Zuckerman, nearly the opposite is true: he finds Denmark and Sweden to be pleasant, safe, and prosperous societies despite (or perhaps because of) their lack of religiosity. Coming from my own American Capitalist Jesus-saturated culture, I read the discourses with great intrigue. One remarkable passage struck me almost as science-fiction. A thirty-nine year old atheist named Christian related the following account about a surprise confession he received from a friend:
…suddenly one night we had a few drinks and then he said to me, “I have a confession to make.”…and then he told me that he believed in God. And I was quite surprised. I never thought in my whole life that…well, he was getting pretty loaded, you know, and then he had this urge to tell me….[It’s] unusual. I never expected anybody to tell me something like that. That was—I almost fell down off the chair. I said—[pantomines an expression of shock]—and I didn’t know how to react, and then he said to me, “I hope you don’t feel I’m a bad person.” So he said that to me and I said, “Oh, of course, you can believe whatever you want as long as you respect me,“ I said to him. But it was something he had kept for a long time, and finally he got the mood, you know, and it was after a few bottles of red wine, you know. It was a confession…”Now we are so good friends, I can tell you this because this is my inner secret,” you know. -p.54
You know? No, I didn’t. Society Without God will cause me to reevaluate some of the common arguments I’ve heard so often about God and politics. How do you feel about the influence religion has on society in your country?
