What's taking the place of institutional religions?

Review of Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton

The precipitous decline of the Christian Church has become a commonplace: if trends continue, organized religion may not outlast the century. (An unlikely scenario, I know.) Then you have the rise of the Nones, the young who profess to have no religion. This, Burton argues, is an over-simplification of an emerging world, perhaps even a dangerous one given the recent rise of neo-fascist ideologies. In this book, she explores the incredibly varied landscapes of what is supposedly replacing traditional Christianity, which includes New Age wellness culture, gamer fandom, Wicca, the misogyny and authoritarianism of the New Atavists, incels, and even Harry Potter, to name just a few.

To do this, Burton offers a very broad definition of “religion”. First, it has to provide meaning, “a bigger-picture sense of why the world is the way it is.” Second, there should be a sense of purpose that would shape the lives of members in a community (the third criterion). Finally, a large part of the experience is embodied in and reinforced via ritual. This follows Durkheim and others, pioneering sociologists who sought to build an abstract picture of religious experience beyond theology and institutions.

I find this definition problematic, in that it expands what a religion is to something far beyond an organized faith in some God or Gods or forces of nature – it could encompass almost anything, which is what she argues it does in the religiously remixed. This refers to the tendency to construct a “religion” – something many practitioners would deny is their goal – à la carte, an eclectic mix literally of whatever they want. This is enabled, she informs us solemnly, by the internet, social media and other technological what-have-yous. Furthermore, in American religions, Burton argues that our unique emphasis on seeking individual fulfilment and meaning encourages this mixing.

With this assumption in hand, Burton goes on to explore a number of trends and fads that she asserts are all modern expressions of mixed religion. Her explorations can be very fun. For example, she goes into a theatre experience on offer in New York, where actors play roles and interact personally with audiences, who wander in a kind of spook house seeking experience and contact. They can be based around plays like Macbeth, but also fantasy worlds with witches, Earth mamas or whatever. It is the repeat attendees who, Burton believes, are forming a new religion. I must admit that I find this ludicrous, as if holders of year-round passes for Disney Parks are not seeking entertainment but want instead to create a new religion. If she is closer to the mark when examining the Maga crowd and its echo chamber, I still think her definition is simply too loose.

But can we project gamers into the religious sphere? Or the young readers of Harry Potter? That sounds like nonsense. Maybe for some, but I doubt kids in front of screens would have any notion of what she’s talking about.

Despite my criticism, this is an engaging book and she may be onto something. She just needs a more rigorous definition of religion. Our culture is in crisis, something very new may be emerging. I think it has been since urbanization, industrialization, and mass media disrupted the certainties to be had in the much smaller communities that made up the world into the 19^th century. It was then that religions began to lose their exclusive hold on our minds, in the time when fewer than 10% of the population ventured outside of a 20-mile radius. Finally, if journalistic and impressionistic in tone, Burton knows the academic literature on religion, injecting sociology and statistics as well as detailed and accurate historical context, enrichening the reading experience. It may just make her a writer to follow.