Full Frontal PR Report
Richard Laermer from trendSpotting

The traditional Judeo-Christian religions are finding serious competitors in an era focused on values that these institutions are failing to support. Instead of following the rules of any one religion people are more concerned with creating a mixture of beliefs that coincide with the lives they wish to live. At a time when people are searching for enlightenment, personal spirituality has largely surpassed formalized, practical religion. People are seeking direct experiences rather than adhering to the dogma that religions extol. And furthermore, people are taking bits from here and there.

Author and attorney Michael Donaldson thinks exposure to different types of spirituality has led to the opening of people’s minds. “People are finding religions today that they never knew anything about years ago. They are exposed to so much more spiritually. A person can find somebody, somewhere, with the same beliefs as them.” Celebrities have no doubt been responsible for much of this exposure; you get to listen to John Travolta, Richard Gere, and Madonna Ritchie extolling the virtues of whatever they happen to be into at the moment. Their personal beliefs and spiritual practices are all over the entertainment press. Whatever it takes…

Traditional religions have felt the changes in the world most acutely; organized religion is aware that people are looking for something new. Robert Reccord understands this. “This country was built on a strong Christian base. That’s not our society anymore. There’s a society of the Jewish faith, the Muslim faith, Mormon faith, Jehovah’s Witness faith, Hindu faith . . . and it’s a very pluralistic place. We need to, to the best of our ability, understand one another.” Perhaps the road he sees ahead is increasing “synchrotism” of religion, which means taking a little bit of one sect … and a little bit of another—and concocting something completely different. “I think what we’re going to find increasingly is a growing number of faith-based religions that are a little bit of Christian, a little bit of Buddhism, a little bit of Hindu, all mixed together in something new, and perhaps that’s going to be a dangerous mix, because it is a mix of a little bit of everything that probably won’t have a lot of real solid answers.”

Spiritualist and Dali Lama advisor Robert Thurman sees traditional religious institutions exploring other areas of spirituality and incorporating them. “I think that the religious leaders are going to have their own institutions begin some exploration. You’ll have yoga in Sunday schools. They will teach Jewish meditation and Christian meditation at the same time.” He worries a little about the religions competing. When they compete, Thurman says emphatically, they do so very aggressively. It is damaging and can escalate to new levels of religious conflicts, “such as the ones we see in Bosnia,” he explains.

You can bet that traditions are going to change and fast. There is no longer the fear of God keeping people tied to their local house of worship. Life here on earth has gained more importance and anything to make it better is sure to rule. Traditional religion will listen and give the people what they want in order to hold on to a following.