The Inner Light

Plus a Holiday Sale on New Subscriptions and Renewals

If you recognize this image, you already know where I’m going with this.

I have a new piece up at Discourse following up on a topic I’ve been writing about for a while: the decline of religious belief in America, following its decline in Europe, and what comes afterward. I wrote about this several times previously in Discourse, one of the editors there wrote a piece in response, and this is my attempt to address some of her concerns.

The central problem, as I put it, is that “a lot of people are having trouble visualizing a viable alternative to religion—yet that alternative is already here.” I give an extended example from the Star Trek franchise, describing “the kind of secular spirituality, secular devotion, and even secular ritual that I’ve been proposing will take the place of religion.” I chose that for a number of reasons, including the fact that I am myself a fan (and the example is one of my favorite episodes)—but also because it is a large fandom, so you can see that it is already serving a spiritual role for a significant subculture.

Then I take a brief look at the pre-Christian Classical tradition, and its continuing influence today, and conclude that “Christianity is not the only source of answers to the big questions and needs of life—nor was it the first.” I have a lot more on that forthcoming in a separate article at Discourse, addressing the phenomenon of the Culture War Christians.

But the main thing is this point that “it’s not just speculation. It’s already happening. People who are used to more traditional forms may have difficulty accepting this as an alternative—but people out in the world are actually adopting it.”

Read the whole thing.

The Inner Light

Holiday Sale

This year’s Holiday Sale has begun. Renew now through the end of the holidays and get 10% off.

Also consider giving a gift subscription to someone you think would value a defense of reason and individualism in today’s world. Substack has added a “schedule for later” feature, so you can buy a gift subscription now and check it off your list, but have it delivered (virtually) closer to Christmas.

I’ve also noticed a problem with Substack’s setup on this. It offers two options: a one-month gift subscription or a one-year gift subscription, so you can give a small gift or a big one—and nothing in between. I’ve asked them to expand the options, but in the meantime, I set up a page on PayPal for giving a six-month gift subscription.

There should be an option at PayPal to include a message, so let me know the recipient’s e-mail and any gift message you’d like to send, or e-mail me with that information by replying to any edition of this newsletter.