The author focuses on USA, but I’ve seen the exact same thing happening at least in my chunk of Latin America. Act II was considerably shorter, but the process was the same.
Religion protects young people’s mental health
It is not the religion itself, but the presence of a community strictu sensu, the sense of belonging, and the third places. We’re social beings and the churches spent 15 [?] centuries calling dibs on those, at least in Europe and the Americas; the dirty bathtub water (religion) was flushed out alongside the baby (third places).
Governments also played a huge role screwing over with your sense of belonging - because your feelings towards your local community compete directly with ones towards “your” country. And yet you don’t get that sense of “I’m among my peers” from the later, only from the former.
Edit: another thing that occurred me is that socialisation of a household is mostly done through the housemate. Kind of hard to do it when both parents work; and yet it’s essential for the maintenance of a local community.
Mostly disused, I believe. For example, sometimes the local parish invites the neighbourhood for church festivities, but barely anyone goes, not even the Catholics.
I’m also placing my bets that the ones still going are less engaged with that third place than before - based on the invitation banner, as it lists the dishes that will be served. It means that nowadays the church buys food for the festivity, it isn’t a potluck any more as it used to be.
The author focuses on USA, but I’ve seen the exact same thing happening at least in my chunk of Latin America. Act II was considerably shorter, but the process was the same.
It is not the religion itself, but the presence of a community strictu sensu, the sense of belonging, and the third places. We’re social beings and the churches spent 15 [?] centuries calling dibs on those, at least in Europe and the Americas; the dirty bathtub water (religion) was flushed out alongside the baby (third places).
Governments also played a huge role screwing over with your sense of belonging - because your feelings towards your local community compete directly with ones towards “your” country. And yet you don’t get that sense of “I’m among my peers” from the later, only from the former.
Edit: another thing that occurred me is that socialisation of a household is mostly done through the housemate. Kind of hard to do it when both parents work; and yet it’s essential for the maintenance of a local community.
Really well written and excellent thought provoking comment!
Over time what happened to the old religious third spaces? Disused? Converted into something else?
Mostly disused, I believe. For example, sometimes the local parish invites the neighbourhood for church festivities, but barely anyone goes, not even the Catholics.
I’m also placing my bets that the ones still going are less engaged with that third place than before - based on the invitation banner, as it lists the dishes that will be served. It means that nowadays the church buys food for the festivity, it isn’t a potluck any more as it used to be.
And yet the old church is there… just emptier.
What happened? You don’t want to help generate content? This was just getting fun