404: The decline of religion is not good for society

The boys drink and review Planetary hazy IPA from the Ministry of Brewing, then discuss the decline of religion in the west. The boys review some of the stats on the decline in church attendance, the rise of the "nones," and how religion has less and less influence on western civilization. But there are some important elements of society that are heavily and positively influenced by religion. Many science-minded people think it's good that religion is in decline. The so-called "new atheists" say we can craft a new morality based on reason. Is that really working? This aligns with the the ideas of the enlightenment -- that reason could replace religion. But does that work? Richard Dawkins recently revealed that he was a "cultural Christian." Is that all we have? The P&C show has frequently discussed an evolutionary psychology explanation for religion. Societies with religion edged out those without. There's a quote attributed to Chesterton that says "when men cease to believe in God, they don't believe nothing, they believe anything." There is a God-shaped hole in our hearts. If that hole isn't filled with God, it will be filled with something else, like environmentalism, wokeness/activism, identity/narcissism/transgenderism. Neitzche feared that when religion died, it would be replaced with hyper-nationalism and other ills. "I didn't see this coming....but, I'm not surprised." There are lots of indications that the concept of God underwrites many of the social norms that we rely on. There's also the issue of archetypes and evolutionary psychology. One argument for the existence of God is that without God everything goes to crap. Is that where we are? Is God necessary, whether he exists or not?