One of the roles of religion is to teach peace. Religious messages should make adherents cool, calm, and positive in seeing life. Religion also preaches the existence of God, the only All-Seeing and Hearing entity. Consequently, we can make Him a place to complain when there is no human to rely on. That is the essence of prayer, direct human communication with Him Who is Hearing.
I think we all agree on such a religion. Religion that brings comfort to life. However, there is another dimension to religion that worries its adherents. Disturbing comfort, anxiety, and questioning various aspects of life. Experts call this dimension in religion a "religious quest", which is a person's ability to involve open, responsive dialogue with existential questions (Batson & Schoenrade, 1991).
A religious quest is a belief that religion is a mission or a journey. People who accept this dimension will tend to be critical of their religion. For example: Is my religion true? Does God exist? Are other religions sure to go to hell? And so forth. Religious anxiety is seen as a test to strengthen faith.
Amid a society that is not very prosperous, the dimension of religion that is widely preferred is the first model. Life is hard, how come being religious makes it even harder? Religion must come as a solution to provide comfort for its adherents. This is religion in general. You don't need to think complicated to understand religion.
Doubts should be removed as far as possible. Being far from religious teachings will make life even harder! That's more or less the understanding. Just like the response of some circles when Muslims defeated the Mongols in the 13th century and conquered Europe in the late 18th century. Apart from many problems, the defeat of civilization will make people tend to like the religious dimension of the first model.
Admittedly, my country, namely Indonesia, is a country that is not yet prosperous. In a study conducted by The Legatum Prosperity Index, Indonesia was ranked 61th out of 149 countries. Apart from welfare figures, there are still many daily problems that afflict Indonesians. Therefore, it is not surprising that most religious figures are those who provide comfortable religious messages.
There is nothing wrong with the comfort dimension of religion. what becomes dangerous is when we are trapped in that comfort, so that something disturbing is considered an enemy. To an extreme degree, philosophy and science can be banned. If you are at this stage, we are complacent about that comfort. We are struck by religion.
When people have reached a high level of welfare or live quite comfortably, the preferred dimension of religion is a religious quest. Where religion provides challenges to answer existential questions. They no longer seek religion for comfort, because life is enough to provide comfort.
It should be noted, religious quests are not tied to any formal religion. It is an anxiety that arises from a search for spiritual meaning. Batson and Schoenrade (1991) in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion say that religious quest is similar to agnosticism (the view that God cannot be known through religion or anything).
Still referring to the study of The Legatum Prosperity Index, countries with high welfare rates are no longer trapped in religious formalism that offers comfort. Instead, people in wealthy countries are turning away from religion. Or if they are still religious, only their identity.
In the first place is Denmark, 74,3% of its citizens are Christian, but only 15% regularly come to church every week. In second place is Norway, 79% of its citizens are Christian, but only 5% regularly come to church once a week. 41.9% of its citizens admit to not having a religion. The third is Switzerland, 62.6% of its citizens are Christian, but only 5% admit to regularly attending church every week. There are 15% of Switzerland who claim to have no religion.
It is too simple to only use welfare statistics. There must be a lot of factors that influence a person's religious style. But, for average purposes, I think the welfare figures can give a pretty good picture.
Why are so few citizens worshipping regularly in wealthy countries? Why are there more and more people who have no religion there? This is due to religious conservatism that cannot keep up with the times. Not to mention the many religious verses that contradict reality. People living in prosperous countries have a high level of open-mindedness. If something is deemed unreasonable, it will be abandoned.
In a developing country like Indonesia, if there is a reality that contradicts a religious verse, then the reality is rejected. This is sometimes what makes it difficult for developing countries to develop. Many of them reject reality. Of course, not all Indonesians are like that. There are still quite a few people who are quite open-minded, though not many.
If religion does not want to be abandoned, religious leaders must be able to adapt to the demands of the times. It must offer fresh narratives that can encourage people to find answers to existential questions typical of religious quests. Not only offers comfort that is not relevant to the times. It must make its adherents see reality more clearly.
Right. One of the disadvantages of religion. Perhaps this is why Marx said religion is an opium for the poor. It keeps them high that they refuse to look at reality. Sad but true.