Many studies, such as those conducted by the University of Oxford and the Pew Research Center, show that religion is losing its significance worldwide. Yet religious institutions serve as the foundation for belief in God and thus play a vital role in sustaining faith as a psychological component of human reality. Belief in God activates specific networks in the brain. (Urgesi, C. et al. 2010)
Our capacity for spiritual or transpersonal experiences is the direct result of over 40,000 years of ritual development of consciousness. Even Stone Age people performed rituals involving drumming and dancing to enter a trance, worshipped the sun and nature spirits, and created within our brains those areas of consciousness that today enable us to have transpersonal experiences, within which believers often have subjective encounters with God.
Archaeological evidence suggests that ritual practices and symbolic behavior emerged as early as the Paleolithic era (Lewis-Williams, 2002; Winkelman, 2010). Neurobiological studies show that rhythmic stimulation and ritual practices cause measurable changes in brain activity, particularly in areas associated with transpersonal states of consciousness (Vaitl et al., 2005; Carhart-Harris et al., 2014).
The Age of Media and Digital Influence
There are (for example) numerous Jesus Christ memes on the internet that are often used to poke fun at religion or its prophets in a humorous way. This can lead to systematic exclusion among young people and new generations as a way to protect their own integrity. The problem lies not solely in media consumption, but in societal developments that are modernizing at a rapid pace and increasingly and systematically rejecting the customs and values of religious communities. Social media algorithms further reinforce this dynamic. According to a survey by a church newspaper, a majority of 56 percent of all respondents do not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
People do not lose interest in God, but rather lose their faith in Him due to the mass media, rapid scientific and industrial development, and isolated cases of extremism.
On the one hand, the teachings of religious traditions are increasingly being called into question within the context of faith, as they find it ever more difficult to hold their ground in modern society from a sociological perspective; on the other hand, negative headlines associated with believers in God are the most psychologically effective means of undermining faith, as this often extends to believers of other religions and denominations as well. From an evolutionary biological perspective, the human brain is unable to distinguish between »news from afar, an impartial observation,« and the reality within one's own group dynamics. Media consumption reinforces doubt, as the brain interprets processed information as its own subjective experiences and stores it emotionally. (Tversky & Kahneman, 1973)
This evolutionary mismatch gives rise to social anxieties, mistrust, and questions that, in a real-world setting where the narrative self can assess the event with full awareness of both itself and the other participants, would not call the belief into question to such an extent.
The Nature of Revelation and the Challenges of the Modern Age
As people increasingly reject the traditional beliefs of institutional religions out of fear of being rejected themselves, this decline will continue unless preventive measures are taken. Although the Holy Scriptures are considered immutable because of their revelatory nature, and the Church’s teaching authority affirms this, it must be acknowledged that some interpretations could certainly be adapted to the modern era, in accordance with modern scientific findings that do not contradict but rather confirm faith and doctrine. Fundamental tenets of faith, such as the resurrection of Jesus, were, for example, interpreted and recorded by eyewitnesses of the first century in accordance with their understanding of the world at that time. A modern interpretation that does not alter the core message but allows for insights into ancient interpretations would be a possible strategic step toward maintaining faith within a modern framework. This requires collaboration among established researchers and institutions.
If religious doctrines are to remain completely unchanged in their interpretation, religions must find ways and means to preserve themselves in an age in which the exchange of information is uncontrolled, often one-sided, and rapid.
The Importance of Institutional Teachings and Humility
A primary byproduct of the modern age is a lack of humility before a Creator. In alternative spiritual teachings, this is often not fully taught. In an increasing number of spiritual communities, for example, while love for God is cultivated, sincere humility is not. Practitioners engage in meditation and transpersonal experiences, causing them to quickly forget what true humility means: feeling neither submissive nor ashamed in their humility before God. Yet archaic patterns quickly take root, erecting a barrier between believers and God when they fail to adopt a truly humble attitude, such as that practiced in the posture of prayer. In the process, defensive patterns of the narrative self - or the ego - quickly take hold, leading to an endless cascade until the person is ultimately dominated by »Satan.« In this context, Satan represents the source of temptation and resistance to submitting to God. This is, especially for spiritual practitioners who consider prayer superfluous, an often welcome invitation - laced with pitfalls - to a bearer of light who idolizes one's own ego and elevates it to the source of all knowledge.
In Christianity, Isaiah 14:12-13 states: «How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God'»
In Judaism, Job 15:7–8 states: «Were you the first man to be born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on God's council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?» and In Islam, Sura 2:34 states: «And [mention, O Muhammad], when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam,' and they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.»
Prayer is not only an attitude of humility, but also has deeply rooted psychological effects that are important for human beings. The deactivation of the default mode network during prayer and the reduction of the narrative self are not coincidental, but rather the result of evolutionary selection, as evolution views prayer as beneficial to life. These findings support the notion that faith is not merely culturally constructed but evolutionarily rooted and functions as a protective factor against collective ruin. All religions recognized long ago that the narrative self proclaims itself to be a false god. It tolerates no submission to a higher power, but instead makes itself the measure of all things - thereby cutting humanity off from the true source of life. However, since this narrative self defines us as human beings, and since we are the only living beings to experience such a pronounced sense of self, responsibility is a necessity. Without such a sense of responsibility, humanity would be cut off from evolution and life and become a tyrant, misled by evolutionarily driven misbehavior such as dominance behavior and misguided reward mechanisms based on evolutionary mismatch. Religious beliefs and practices may have evolved because they promote group cohesion and suppress selfish behaviors that threaten collective survival.
Faith as the effective social prevention measure
Belief in God is deeply rooted in the brain and, even from an evolutionary perspective, serves as a primary safeguard against collective ruin caused, for example, by human greed. An adversary of life against which religions have been warning for millennia:
Christianity: «For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.» (1 Timothy 6:10)
Islam: «And those who are protected from the stinginess of their own souls - it is they who will be the successful.» (Quran 59:9)
Buddhism: «The root of suffering is attachment. Greed, hatred, and delusion are the three poisons that lead to all suffering.» (Buddha - Dhammapada/Buddhist teachings)
Hinduism: «One who is not disturbed by the incessant flow of desires - that enter like rivers into the ocean, which is ever being filled but is always still - can alone achieve peace, and not the person who strives to satisfy such desires.» (Bhagavad Gita 2.70)
Judaism: «Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves
wealth is never satisfied with their income.» (Ecclesiastes 5:10)
Taoism: «Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.» (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 33 - Laozi)
Psychological and social practices, for example, offer little protection against typical human failings such as greed, jealousy, or hatred. While they do educate people, they are nowhere near as effective as belief in God, who even rewards people when they abandon such destructive behaviors and turn to Him. Belief in God reduces selfish behavior more effectively than ethical education. (Shariff, A.F. & Norenzayan, A. 2007)
Given that institutional religions provide a proven and secure foundation for faith in God, and that even spiritual movements originally draw their concepts of God and their values from them, it can be assumed that maintaining and passing on faith in our world, and standing up for the resilience of faith in God, is of the utmost importance from a societal, social, and even health perspective.