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A Religious Renewal or a Spiritual Crisis?

“Talk of prayer, meditation, worship and Bible study have replaced social crusades in many a church. . . . What these trends indicate, observers say, is a newfound determination by those of religious faith to ‘search out the sacred’ in a society that has increasingly moved away from its religious underpinnings.”​—U.S.News & World Report.

“Across Eastern Europe, there are signs of a religious renewal. . . . In Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Poland, clergymen and scholars say growing numbers of people are turning to​—or turning back to—​churches. . . . Young people are asking, ‘Why are we living?’”​—The New York Times.

ARE we seeing a spiritual reawakening taking place, judging by reports such as these? Though growth in the churches has lagged behind the growth in population, small gains are in evidence here and there in the last few years. Some church officials see this as an indication that the decline of the churches since the 1960’s is bottoming out, and things are looking up. Whether this is the case or not, we might ask: Why are these people turning to the churches?

Why the “Renewal”?

“There’s an authentic hunger in people, a feeling that something is missing in their spiritual depths,” says American Episcopal priest Tilden Edwards. In other words, it appears that more people are becoming disenchanted with the materialistic and secular way of life, and they are searching for life’s meaning and purpose. Others, gripped by the fear of nuclear annihilation or of crime and violence, or simply touched by some personal tragedy, turn to religion for solace.

A tangible side effect of this trend is the establishment and growth of Eastern religions in the West. Temples, shrines, mosques, meditation centers, and so forth, are springing up in both cities and rural areas in Western countries. Very visible, too, are groups that practice such disciplines as Yoga, transcendental meditation, Zen and Hare Krishna. In the opinion of some religious authorities, these “exotic” faiths seem to offer just what many people in Western society are looking for: an authority figure to tell them what to believe, a cause to give direction to their lives, a sense of belonging in an intimate group and a state of inner peace or self-awareness.

Renewal or Crisis?

The fact that people turn to religion for answers when they are faced with critical and dangerous times, or are troubled by the emptiness of their way of life, merely bears out the fundamental truth stated by Jesus Christ: “Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through Jehovah’s mouth.” (Matthew 4:4) A purely materialistic way of life simply does not provide the strength and endurance needed to deal with many of today’s problems.

In fact, some observers believe that this spiritual void is responsible, at least in part, for the many ills of modern-day society. “The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century,” said the noted Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

In the face of this spiritual crisis, we must ask: Are the churches up to the task of satisfying the spiritual needs of those who turn to them? Can these people find the spiritual guidance and strength that they are looking for? Pointedly, can religion meet the present-day crisis?