Surveying the landscape => A paranormal, religious future?

[Laird]

What Australians really think about religion by Annabel Crabb.

Australia is not a country in which religious belief is the dominant determinant of identity, social status or indeed even social activity.

When given a list of eight attributes and asked which was most central to the respondent's sense of self and identity, Australians placed religion stone-cold, motherless last.

Respondents were more likely to identify themselves through their political beliefs (this was the top-rating response, scoring 6.4 on a scale of one to ten), gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation than they were through their religious views, which rated 4.7 out of ten.

Overall, Australians are not looking for more religion. Only 15 per cent of respondents thought the country would be better off if more people were religious.

And one of the survey's most striking findings is the poor esteem in which religious leaders are held.

When asked who they trusted, Australians opted for doctors and nurses (trusted by 97 per cent) and scientists (93 per cent) well ahead of their preachers.

Religious leaders were distrusted by a full 70 per cent of the population, with 35 per cent saying they did not trust them "at all".

45% of Americans believe that ghosts and demons exist

Jamie Ballard

More than one in five (22%) say that demons “definitely exist” while slightly more (24%) believe that they “probably exist.” The numbers are similar when Americans are asked about ghosts: 20 percent say they “definitely exist” and 25 percent say they “probably exist.”

Far less common is the belief that vampires live among us. Only 13 percent of Americans say that vampires definitely or probably exist.

Why Religion Is Not Going Away and Science Will Not Destroy It

Peter Harrison

The conflict model of science and religion offered a mistaken view of the past and, when combined with expectations of secularisation, led to a flawed vision of the future. Secularisation theory failed at both description and prediction. The real question is why we continue to encounter proponents of science-religion conflict. Many are prominent scientists. It would be superfluous to rehearse Richard Dawkins’s musings on this topic, but he is by no means a solitary voice. Stephen Hawking thinks that ‘science will win because it works’; Sam Harris has declared that ‘science must destroy religion’; Stephen Weinberg thinks that science has weakened religious certitude; Colin Blakemore predicts that science will eventually make religion unnecessary. Historical evidence simply does not support such contentions. Indeed, it suggests that they are misguided.

So why do they persist? The answers are political. Leaving aside any lingering fondness for quaint 19th-century understandings of history, we must look to the fear of Islamic fundamentalism, exasperation with creationism, an aversion to alliances between the religious Right and climate-change denial, and worries about the erosion of scientific authority. While we might be sympathetic to these concerns, there is no disguising the fact that they arise out of an unhelpful intrusion of normative commitments into the discussion. Wishful thinking – hoping that science will vanquish religion – is no substitute for a sober assessment of present realities. Continuing with this advocacy is likely to have an effect opposite to that intended.

Religion is not going away any time soon, and science will not destroy it. If anything, it is science that is subject to increasing threats to its authority and social legitimacy. Given this, science needs all the friends it can get. Its advocates would be well advised to stop fabricating an enemy out of religion, or insisting that the only path to a secure future lies in a marriage of science and secularism.

Spirituality of Nones differs between America & Europe

First, researchers confirmed the widely known fact that, overall, Americans are much more religious than Western Europeans. They gauged religious commitment using standard questions, including “Do you believe in God with absolute certainty?” and “Do you pray daily?”

Second, the researchers found that American “nones”—those who identify as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular—are more religious than European nones. The notion that religiously unaffiliated people can be religious at all may seem contradictory, but if you disaffiliate from organized religion it does not necessarily mean you’ve sworn off belief in God, say, or prayer.

The third finding reported in the study is by far the most striking. As it turns out, “American ‘nones’ are as religious as—or even more religious than—Christians in several European countries, including France, Germany, and the U.K.”

Not the best article, seems to me to lump "Nones" with "Atheists", but the surveys are interesting.

Meet the Modern-Day Pagans Who Celebrate the Ancient Gods

Caitlin Dwyer

More and more in America, religion is something people choose (or don’t), rather than inherit. According to a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, “As the Millennial generation enters adulthood, its members display much lower levels of religious affiliation, including less connection with Christian churches, than older generations.” However, the report also finds that many millennials remain spiritual in a broad sense, expressing “wonder at the universe” and an overall feeling of “gratitude” and “well-being.” About 1.5% of the American population identifies as “other faiths,” including “Unitarians, those who identify with Native American religions, Pagans, Wiccans, New Agers, deists, Scientologists, pantheists, polytheists, Satanists and Druids, to name just a few.” Druids will appreciate being listed separately from Wiccans (self-described “benevolent witches”), but both fall under the umbrella of neo-paganism. Almost half of New Agers – a larger category that includes shamans, goddess-worshippers, and possibly your mom’s psychic – are of the millennial generation.

How coronavirus is leading to a religious revival

The world’s major religions are not the only ones witnessing increased engagement. Reiki, an alternative medicine involving energy healing, has become more sought after than ever since the lockdown. The UK’s largest reiki group on Facebook – home to thousands of members – has seen rising demand for online healing and reiki-teaching since lockdown began, as well as a spike in fraudsters offering scam services and “spells”, according to the group’s admin. 

Reiki practitioner Hilary Kingston says that people are looking to a “higher source” for comfort and explanation during the crisis – much in the same way as an ill person prays for their return to health. For others, reiki carries political significance. Katrina Kiritharan is an energy healer and intuitive life coach and says that it symbolises an “inclusive and [alternative] beacon of hope” for marginalised people who feel that their governments have failed to support them during the crisis.

With healthcare being so unaffordable in many countries, and psychotherapy carrying a stigma in certain communities, spiritual healing presents a cheaper and safer option, Katrina explains. Inexpensive self-help is growing in the form of meditation too, with popular apps such as Calm and Headspace booming since global lockdown began.

STATE: Animal communicators help heal people, pets

by Paige Masten, UNC Media Hub

When caring for her mother, bathing and dressing her, Hebrank’s hands would get warm — and, almost like magic, her mother would start to feel better. So, after her mother passed away, Hebrank decided to get to the bottom of it, learning as much as she could about spiritual intuition and holistic healing.

But Hebrank, a certified animal communicator and animal Reiki practitioner, has always had a special connection with animals. No matter where she is, animals approach her.

“I’m a little bit like Dr. Doolittle, I guess,” Hebrank says with a laugh.

Hebrank, who previously worked as a clinical social worker for more than 20 years, has been a spiritual healer and intuitive in North Carolina since 2003. She owns a private practice, One Light Center, in Durham.

Along with the above from a local paper - and I'm sure there are many examples across such publications - something on precognitive dreams in Healthline ->

What’s Up with Dreams That Seem to Predict the Future?

Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph.D., CRNP — Written by Crystal Raypole on June 30, 2020

Dreams that predict the future — could they be real?

The short answer: Who knows? Scientific research offers several more likely explanations, but experts still don’t fully understand the role of dreams.

So, let your dreams tell you what they will. But when they affect your rest, check out some new sleep habits.

I know some proponents will be annoyed by the claim of "more likely explanations" but I think this sort caveat is the only way to get positive accounts of Psi into materialist-leaning science publications. Thinking in particular of the Chemistry World article on the insights of Occult Chemistry.

Though as Roberta noted even the BBC is putting out stuff talking about the materialist evangelical faith impeding science....maybe a one shot but it's interesting to see.

Xiuzhen (Immortality Cultivation) Fantasy: Science, Religion, and the Novels of Magic/Superstition in Contemporary China

Zhange Ni

Abstract

In early twenty-first-century China, online fantasy is one of the most popular literary genres. This article studies a subgenre of Chinese fantasy named xiuzhen 修真 (immortality cultivation), which draws on Daoist alchemy in particular and Chinese religion and culture in general, especially that which was negatively labelled “superstitious” in the twentieth century, to tell exciting adventure stories. Xiuzhen fantasy is indebted to wuxia xiaoshuo 武俠小說 (martial arts novels), the first emergence of Chinese fantasy in the early twentieth century after the translation of the modern Western discourses of science, religion, and superstition. Although martial arts fiction was suppressed by the modernizing nation-state because it contained the unwanted elements of magic and supernaturalism, its reemergence in the late twentieth century paved the way for the rise of its successor, xiuzhen fantasy. As a type of magical arts fiction, xiuzhen reinvents Daoist alchemy and other “superstitious” practices to build a cultivation world which does not escape but engages with the dazzling reality of digital technology, neoliberal governance, and global capitalism. In this fantastic world, the divide of magic and science breaks down; religion, defined not by faith but embodied practice, serves as the organizing center of society, economy, and politics. Moreover, the subject of martial arts fiction that challenged the sovereignty of the nation-state has evolved into the neoliberal homo economicus and its non-/anti-capitalist alternatives. Reading four exemplary xiuzhen novels, Journeys into the Ephemeral (Piaomiao zhilv 飄渺之旅), The Buddha Belongs to the Dao (Foben shidao 佛本是道), Spirit Roaming (Shenyou 神遊), and Immortality Cultivation 40K (Xiuzhen siwannian 修真四萬年), this article argues that xiuzhen fantasy provides a platform on which the postsocialist generation seek to orient themselves in the labyrinth of contemporary capitalism by rethinking the modernist triad of religion, science, and superstition.

Manifesting, for the Rest of Us

A new generation has turned to an eons-old practice of envisioning positive outcomes.

Manifesting sits alongside a smattering of belief systems — astrology, tarot, paganism and their metaphysical cousins — being resurrected by a youthful generation in the name of wellness. “For Gen Z in particular, it can be a form of self-soothing,” said Lucie Greene, a writer and trend forecaster in New York. “It’s a way to make sense of things in a moment where nothing makes sense.”

Marta Langston, 18, a high school student in Northern California, shares her credo on TikTok and Instagram. “You would be surprised how many people my age that I’ve met are actively using ‘the law of attraction,’” Ms. Langston said. “I really think our generation is here to push this idea into the mainstream — we see it as part of a new enlightenment.”

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Humanism And Ásatrú Paganism On The Rise In Iceland

Poppy Askham

Humanism is the fastest-growing religious or philosophical group in Iceland, closely followed by Ásatrú paganism, according to the latest National Registry figures. Meanwhile, membership to the National Church of Iceland continues to dwindle.

Between December 2019 and June 1st, the number of members of Siðmennt, the Icelandic humanist association increased by 225, bringing the organisation to a total of 3,695 followers. The second fastest-growing religion/philosophy was Iceland’s largest non-Christian faith, Ásatrú paganism which gained 179 members.

In the last six months the National Church of Iceland has lost 472 members, bringing its total congregation down to just 230,682 Icelanders. Although registered members have been declining in recent years it is still by far the biggest official religious or philosophical organisation in the country, the second largest being the Catholic Church with 14,665 members.

Zuism saw the biggest proportional drop, losing 140 followers – around 11.2% of its membership.

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A Kind Of Magic: Wardruna Teach Us To Laugh At Ourselves Again

Dan Franklin

Wadruna’s new album, Kvitravn, meaning “white raven”, uses that corvid as a symbol of a bridge between worlds. Albino spirit animals populate mythologies from many cultures. In the Norse tradition, the ravens Hugin and Munin belong to Odin, representing thought and memory. In a livestream press event for the album, Selvik performed a solo stripped-back version of new song ‘Munin’ in the “skaldic” tradition. “Performing to the faceless,” as he put it, looking into the camera. Skalds were Nordic bards and poets. They held great power. They could name things and, in doing so, control them. Skalds carried the living memory of their people. They acted as a medium between past and present. Odin himself is a god of poetry.

Selvik prefers not to see himself as a preacher but he has a core conviction: “I do believe strongly that it would benefit us all if we applied a more animistic view of nature. I think we got off track as a species as soon as we took the sacredness out of nature. That is not necessarily a spiritual thing. It’s an attitude. It applies whether you’re a spiritual person or a religious person, or not. It’s an attitude: viewing nature as something that’s sacred, something important, something we are a part of. Not something we are the rulers of.”

In basic terms, animism is the exploration of the lifeforce and inherent impetus of our surroundings. We can tune into the frequencies of the natural world and perhaps alter them. It has some parallels with panpsychism, which posits that everything has a mind of its own (of sorts).

The philosopher Dr Philip Goff, author of Galileo's Error – an authority on consciousness and defender of panpsychism – distinguishes the behaviour of the smallest bits of matter, such as an electron, and its intrinsic nature: “All we get from physics is this big black-and-white abstract structure, which we must somehow colour in with intrinsic nature. We know how to colour in one bit of it: the brains of organisms are coloured in with experience. How to colour in the rest? The most elegant, simple, sensible option is to colour in the rest of the world with the same pen.”