According to Lila Abu-Lughod (1998), an anthropology professor at Columbia University, “Many aspects of societies around the world cannot be understood without reference to the history and influence of the major religions in terms of which people live their lives” (p. 18). This idea can be applied specifically to the United States of America where, since the beginning of its history, organized religion has been a major component of its national identity. With the country being primarily Christian since its founding, attending church and reading the Bible were common activities in most American households. However, as centuries have passed, American society has advanced and developed, introducing new standard ways of thinking and technological
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As stated by Schlesinger, Jr. (1971), an American historian and scholar, today’s increasingly educated public is demanding more information than ever before (p. 343). On the surface, this may seem beneficial, but in reality it is wreaking havoc for organized religion. During the 16th-17th centuries before the Scientific Revolution, the Bible was considered factual. However, later geological discoveries began to disprove certain truths accepted by the church, creating a divide that has persisted to this day. (DeCruz, 2017, p. 14-15). Due to the constant hunger for knowledge, extensive research has been done regarding theories such as evolution and the Big Bang that the Church’s teachings contradict. As more and more evidence has been found to support these scientific theories, people are abandoning organized religion because they believe it has been proven false. In addition to this, the introduction of new biomedical technologies that allow doctors to alter a human’s genetics and DNA, a highly contested topic for Christians, is also causing people to leave organized religion. Because this technology can be helpful, many Americans are disaffiliating with organized religion in order to take advantage of these breakthroughs. For example, the process of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, genetically tests artificially-fertilized embryos in order to find one that is least likely to develop certain genetic disorders and then chooses that embryo to be implanted in the mother while the rest are disposed of (Jones, 2015, p. 5). This technology can ensure that the parents will have a healthy child that they can provide for, but as bioethics Professor Emeritus Jones (2015) puts it, “biomedical technologists should never assume the aura of the saviour” (p. 7).
As stated by Schlesinger, Jr. (1971), an American historian and scholar, today’s increasingly educated public is demanding more information than ever before (p. 343). On the surface, this may seem beneficial, but in reality it is wreaking havoc for organized religion. During the 16th-17th centuries before the Scientific Revolution, the Bible was considered factual. However, later geological discoveries began to disprove certain truths accepted by the church, creating a divide that has persisted to this day. (DeCruz, 2017, p. 14-15). Due to the constant hunger for knowledge, extensive research has been done regarding theories such as evolution and the Big Bang that the Church’s teachings contradict. As more and more evidence has been found to support these scientific theories, people are abandoning organized religion because they believe it has been proven false. In addition to this, the introduction of new biomedical technologies that allow doctors to alter a human’s genetics and DNA, a highly contested topic for Christians, is also causing people to leave organized religion. Because this technology can be helpful, many Americans are disaffiliating with organized religion in order to take advantage of these breakthroughs. For example, the process of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD, genetically tests artificially-fertilized embryos in order to find one that is least likely to develop certain genetic disorders and then chooses that embryo to be implanted in the mother while the rest are disposed of (Jones, 2015, p. 5). This technology can ensure that the parents will have a healthy child that they can provide for, but as bioethics Professor Emeritus Jones (2015) puts it, “biomedical technologists should never assume the aura of the saviour” (p. 7).