Signs and Wonders, a Religious Futures Weblog [sources][trends][about][discuss][archive][contact]



Welcome! At Signs and Wonders we sift through the World Wide Web looking for evidence of emerging religious futures.
Our mission is to provide our readers -- religious futurists, ministers, and just plain spiritual people -- with a guided tour of the web,
stopping wherever we see the future of faith unfolding before our eyes.
We update this site every three days or so, so come back again and join us on our next trip. If you want to comment on anything you read here or discuss religious futures in general, come over to our forum. 



 















March 19, 2000



[editor's note] -- Cleaning out the cupboard
 by Cody Clark at 13:26 PM (EST)

Occassionally -- mainly on weekends -- I'll present all those items that do not exactly make good scanning hits but are interesting enough merit a religious futurist's attention. This Sunday I'm cleaning out some articles I've been carrying around with me for some months. The items below are not exactly breaking news, but they are worth reading before they disappear into the murky depths of their publications' archive pages.





[feature] -- Will racism end in this century?
 by Cody Clark at 13:29 PM (EST)

In an article in the New Republic Online, Harvard prof Orlando patterson asserts that by 2050 America will have plenty of problems, but "no racial problems whatsoever". Three factors will contribute to this possible future:

  • Growing multiculturalism and miscegenation will blur ethnic lines.
  • The growing income gap will turn racial conflict into class conflict.
  • Genetic technology will make skin color changeable and thus make differences in appearance less socially significant.

editor -- The future that Patterson is proposing is plausible, but not necessarily better. He predicts, and I tend to agree, that the twenty-first century in American society will likely be defined by class conflicts and class consciousness. There is no guarantee that such conflicts will be any less violent.





[feature] -- Lessons to learn from Gen X Catholics
 by Cody Clark at 13:09 PM (EST)

In an article in U.S. Catholic, Tom Beaudoin gives the Catholic Church some pointers about ministering to, and not just tolerating, today's 20-something Catholic. Things Beaudoin wishes the Church would learn about Generation X:

  • Popular culture is important and should be engaged, not rejected, by the Church.
  • They want a Church that doesn't take itself so seriously.
  • Tolerance and pluralism is a their most important ethic and can be an asset to the Church.
  • They as a rule do not volunteer to fight for grand movements. They volunteer locally, short-term, and where the benefits are readily apparent.
  • Their suspicion of big institutions can be useful to the Church, not a threat.
  • For them, family is becoming a matter of shared committment, not just blood ties. Small groups and communities are important.
  • For them, humility and service is the center of all religious authority. Trade pomp and triumphalism for authenticity, humility, and openness.


editor -- I don't think it's a stretch to extend these points and lessons to the 20-somethings of other denominations. The way each Church learns and applies these lessons will have an important influence on how successful they will be 10 to 20 years from now.





[feature] -- Does Faith Have a Future?
 by Cody Clark at 13:28 PM (EST)

An essay in the Winter 2000 issue of CrossCurrents journal contemplates, in grand terms, the future of religious faith in the postmodern world. Paul Lakeland, a postmodern teacher and writer at Fairfield University, asserts three directions for the further future of faith:

  • faith is growing on the small scale -- individuals and small communities will overshadow centralized church and grand institutions.
  • faith has its greatest future among the disinherited and poor of the world.
  • faith will increasingly focus on "giftedness", simplicity, and "the mysticism of everyday life".
























The editor's first try with a webcam.

The

Editor		






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