Are Religion’s Days Numbered?

“The earth will certainly be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters are covering the very sea.”

ISAIAH, 8TH-CENTURY B.C.E. ISRAELITE PROPHET.

THE Hebrew prophet Isaiah thus predicted that one day everyone on earth will be united in worship of the Almighty God. Today, however, such a prospect may appear to be further away than ever.

Earlier in this century, for example, Communist revolutionaries in Russia believed that the destruction of religion was a necessary step toward freeing the proletariat. Atheism, they claimed, would ‘liberate the working masses from the burden of prejudices and delusions of the past.’ By 1939, Stalin had reduced the number of Orthodox churches open in the Soviet Union to 100, compared with over 40,000 before 1917.

Hitler also viewed religion as an obstacle in his path to absolute power. “One is either a Christian or a German. You can’t be both,” he once declared. He intended gradually to eliminate all forms of worship that he could not control. To that end, the Nazis developed their own quasi-religious prayers, festivals, baptisms, and even burial services. Hitler was their messiah, and the fatherland their god. Any atrocity could be committed if Hitler willed it.

Last Days of Religion?

Neither Stalin nor Hitler succeeded in their drive to suppress religion. But now, apathy seems to have taken over the role of tyranny. For Bible students this turn of events does not come as a surprise. The apostle Paul told Timothy that in the “last days” people would be “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.”—2 Timothy 3:1-4.

Does the Bible teach that these “last days,” marked by religious indifference, would be a prelude to the demise of all religion? No. Rather than predict the end of all religion, the Bible explains that false religion—which is given the symbolic name Babylon the Great—will come to an end.a The book of Revelation says: “A strong angel lifted up a stone like a great millstone and hurled it into the sea, saying: ‘Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the great city be hurled down, and she will never be found again.’”—Revelation 18:21.

The disappearance of false religion, however, will not result in a godless world. On the contrary, Psalm 22:27 prophesies: “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn back to Jehovah. And all the families of the nations will bow down before you.” Just imagine a time when “all the families of the nations” will unite together in worshiping the one true God! Under the rule of God’s Kingdom, that remarkable promise will find glorious fulfillment. (Matthew 6:10) When that time comes, religion—true religion—will matter greatly. But what about now?

Filling the Spiritual Void

The spiritual void so prevalent in Europe today parallels the situation in the Roman Empire of the first century. Historian Will Durant describes how first-century Christianity successfully met the spiritual need of that time: “Into the moral vacuum of a dying paganism, into the coldness of Stoicism and the corruption of Epicureanism, into a world sick of brutality, cruelty, oppression, and sexual chaos, into a pacified empire that seemed no longer to need the masculine virtues or the gods of war, it brought a new morality of brotherhood, kindliness, decency, and peace.”

The moral and spiritual vacuum in the lives of people in our time can be filled by the same powerful message preached throughout the Roman Empire by the early Christians. And there are hearing ears. Many Europeans, although outwardly not religious, still feel that God plays an important role in their lives. They may no longer attend traditional church services, yet some have filled their spiritual void elsewhere.

Juan José, a young man from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, was educated in a Catholic school and served as an altar boy until he was 13 years old. He attended Mass every Sunday with his family, but he stopped going to church when he became a teenager. Why? “For one thing, going to Mass bored me,” Juan José explains. “I knew the liturgy by heart. Everything seemed to be a repetition of what I had heard before. Furthermore, our parish priest often treated us altar boys harshly. And I thought it wrong that humble people should have to pay the priest to conduct a funeral service.

“I still believed in God, but I thought I could serve him in my own way, outside the church. Along with a group of friends, I tried to enjoy life as best I could. I suppose you could say that entertainment became the first thing in my life.

“But when I was 18, I began studying the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. What did they have to offer me that I had not found in the church? A definite faith based on the Bible rather than tradition and ‘mysteries’ that I could never understand. My new beliefs meant big changes for me, however. Instead of spending every weekend organizing parties at discotheques, I began going from house to house in order to share with my neighbors my newfound faith. Being actively involved in helping others gave meaning to my life. For the last seven years, I have been a full-time minister of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

It is not only young people who are seeking to fill their religious void. Antonia, an elderly woman from Extremadura, Spain, spent most of her life “searching for God,” as she puts it. During her teenage years, she went to Mass every day and eventually entered a Catholic convent, since she believed “that if God cannot be found in a convent, he can’t be found anywhere.” But three years later she left the convent, feeling even more disillusioned and empty than before.

Finally, when she was in her 50’s, she became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “I was so happy when the Witnesses visited me and answered my questions from my own Bible,” she explains. “Since I became one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, my life has had a purpose. I have my problems, but I can cope with them because now I have found the true God.”

These two experiences are not isolated ones. Bucking the religious trend, increasing numbers of people are associating with Jehovah’s Witnesses and have found that living by their faith and preaching about it to others gives meaning and purpose to their lives.

True Religion Matters More Than Ever

Although we are living at a time when many are rejecting religion, it would be unwise to judge all religion as irrelevant. True, in the 20th century, people are discarding empty ritual and outdated and unscriptural dogma, and they scorn churchgoing that is just for the sake of appearances. The Bible, in fact, recommends that we steer clear of hypocritical religion. The apostle Paul foretold that during the “last days,” some people would ‘have a form of godly devotion, but they would prove false to its power.’ Such people maintain a facade of religion, but their conduct denies its validity. How should we react to such religious hypocrisy? “From these turn away,” Paul advised.—2 Timothy 3:1, 5.

But Paul also said that “religion does yield high dividends.” (1 Timothy 6:6, New English Bible) Paul was not talking about just any sort of religion. The Greek word translated here as “religion” was eu·seʹbei·a, which means “devotion or reverence toward God.” True religion, authentic godly devotion, “holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.”—1 Timothy 4:8.

As the above-mentioned examples demonstrate, true religion can give meaning to our lives and help us face problems with fortitude. More than that, true religion guarantees an eternal future. That form of worship is worth pursuing, since we are assured it will eventually ‘fill the earth.’b (Isaiah 11:9; 1 Timothy 6:11) No doubt about it, now is the time when true religion matters more than ever.

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A Tale of Two Buildings

Spain is replete with religious buildings, but the fervor that once sustained the construction of costly cathedrals seems to have evaporated. For example, in Mejorada del Campo, on the outskirts of Madrid, an impressive Catholic church is under construction. Justo Gallego Martínez, a former Benedictine monk, began the project some 20 years ago. But the building is still a hollow shell. Martínez, the lone builder, is now in his 60’s, so it seems unlikely that the church will ever be finished. However, 200 miles [300 km] to the south, a different story unfolded.

“Faith Moves Mountains” was how the local newspaper described the two-day construction of a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Martos, Jaén, Spain. “How is it possible,” asked the local newspaper, “that in this present world based on selfishness, volunteers from various regions [of Spain] unselfishly travel to Martos in order to erect a building that has broken all records for speed, perfection, and organization?” In answer to this question, the article quoted the words of one of the volunteers: “The merit simply lies in the fact that we are a people taught by Jehovah.”

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Mejorada del Campo

Kingdom Hall in Martos