Over time, we have seen the erosion of the influence of religion in the affairs of the state. During the medieval period, there was no distinction between the state and religion. The divine rights of monarchies meant that the king’s word was also God’s. This has led to a crisis, which eventually gave birth to the Renaissance, or the birth of man. Simply put, it was a period that saw the triumph of human reason. The Middle-Age, aptly called the Dark Age, was seen as blindness to authority. With the Enlightenment, man used knowledge at his disposal. Galileo, Newton, and Johannes Kepler changed the world overnight.
The modern period created a chasm between reason and faith. Whereas medieval society relied on faith in understanding the substantive values of their world, the advent of reason enabled man to put into question the idea of divine providence. The idea of a divine plan meant that man must follow the path prepared or designed for him by God. Yet, with the French Revolution, human society became keenly aware of the power of human freedom. The politics of religion lost ground. Voltaire made people realize the hypocrisy of religious authority. Elsewhere, the true intent of those who propagated the faith in faraway land previously unknown became apparent. Bishop Desmond Tutu puts it this way: “When our conquerors arrived, we had our land and they have their cross. After they left, they had our land and we have their cross.”
Thomas Friedman introduced the flat-world phenomenon in order to explain globalization. What he simply wanted to say is that physical borders have been broken when it comes to the transmittal of values and with it, the influence of Western culture. We do not just import physical goods for that matter. With every gadget or modern device in our hand, we also assimilate the values of Western society. In this way, moral individualism and the liberal attitude towards our views of the world influenced the way we think, live, and see ourselves. During my study in Europe, I was able to visit several cathedrals. They were empty.
In my one and only conversation with a French flat mate at Linkoping University in Sweden, he explained why he no longer believes in God. Reports based on research indicate that 85% of young Europeans are atheists. The young Frenchman told me that in their country, most people enjoy their freedom and have a very high standard of living. The French people do not have the problems that developing countries suffer from. He told me that he can visit any country he wants to and that he can go skiing in the Alps. I offered no counter-argument to that, except maybe the thought that in our country, we still find great joy in simple things.
The point is that modernity has strongly influenced the values of society. With the advance of a global economic order, people rely more on innovation and the tools of modernity. Jove Jim Aguas explains that with modernization, people lost faith in the value of religion. The changes in society are a result of the advance of a modern economy and the innovation brought about by the genius of a few men – Richard Feynman, Steve Jobs, and Ray Kurzwell, to name some. They have shaped the world we have today, from nanotechnology, to your chic iPhone, and Artificial Intelligence.
The late Dr. Romulo Bautista helped me in the past understand these things. He told me that there’s a distinction between religious and secular morality. Religious morality depends on your faith in God. God is the Absolute. The law of God is eternal. The eternal law, in this way, is the moral law. Secular morality, meanwhile, is based on humanistic values. The most important element in a man’s life is his freedom. In this sense, man defines for himself the meaning of his life and with it, the meaning of the world. The respect for human dignity, in this way, means respecting the religious beliefs of people, including the lack of it. Can modern society survive without religion? It is hard to say. Religious values – the love of thy neighbor – are foundational.
