1. We were brought-up in the first officially post-Religious (specifically post-Christian) society in the history of the world.
(i.e. The first in which religion was not, explicitly and by authority, the most important thing.)
That was our challenge. Then:
2. We failed to recognise, repent, and convert.
(And still do.)
(Note: The Baby Boom generation I take to be approximately those born between 1945 and 1975. By post-Christian - I mean to reference that the mainstream, official and media public discourse and culture was - inflecting from the mid-fifties onwards and accelerating to completion - utilitarian, secular and excluding of Christian assumptions.)
I was born at the tail end of the baby boom and went to primary school in Australia in the early/mid 1970s. At that time, every Tuesday morning the schools had religious instruction (not sure if that is still true but I tend to doubt it). Everyone was separated into Catholic, C of E, and Jewish groups. Teacher was a priest/pastor/rabbi. So we were not "post-religious" in that sense, but we were post-religious in the more important sense that this class was not considered "the most important thing". Academic subjects and sports were more important.
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents were born in the 1900s and my parents in the 1930s. None of them regarded religion as terribly important. My parents, in fact, openly stated that they were atheists. So obviously the problem goes back further than the baby boomers...
@Dexter - The sense I mean 'post-religious' is that the Christian religion is not acceptable as a reason in public discourse - official, corporate and media.
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