Spirits of the age

The decline of secularism brings a new set of challenges | Joel Belz

If you think that secular humanism has become biblical Christianity's most threatening opponent in contemporary society, Peter Jones wants you to think again. He will tell you—politely but emphatically—that you're at least a decade or two behind the curve.

Secular humanism boasts that it is void of explicit spiritual content—and in a way, Jones says, it has lived up to that promise. But in featuring such emptiness, it has left a globe full of people with vacant hearts and minds craving even a little spiritual substance. And that hunger, in turn, has turned its victims into prime candidates for what Jones calls "neo-pagan spirituality." It is all the rage.

Secular humanism deliberately steers you away from thinking "religiously" or "spiritually." But neo-paganism wears spirituality on its sleeve. And the evidence suggests that people—in all times and in all places—prefer a form of godliness to no godliness at all.