Dr. Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations in the Commonwealth and Baron of Aldgate has been a theological speaker worth listening to for many years. Combining Jewish tradition, liberal philosophy and modern sciences, he targeted collective blind spots of society more than once. Speaking last week at the Theos think tank in London, Rabbi Sacks quickly induced a range (!) of intensive debates with a single lecture.
A main thrust of his argument was the observation of the link between religious practice (especially in Monotheist religions) and the stability and size of families. He argued that religions were offering what the market, sciences, politics and philosophies were not able to offer: Absolute (that is: believed) answers about the meaning(s) of life. These could range from dangerous and intolerant fundamentalisms to dedications towards peace, charity and dialogue.
He pointed out that extreme atheists and especially "Neo-Darwinians" refuted themselves: Lacking any fundamental answers about the meaning(s) of life, they fell to moral relativism and the decline of family and birth rates. Therefore, secular Europe was about to die, while religious communities grew demographically. Rabbi Sacks advised kind of a "third way", combining deep religiosity with enlightened interest in sciences and dialogue.
* Read his complete lecture in English here.
* Here is a German translation of Rabbi Sack's lecture.
And I might just add a graph from a recent blogpost ("Homo religiosus") about Religion & Demography.
