Practically speaking, what does society do in the absense of religious institutions?

Nope. Per the census bureau, 69% of children live in two parent households. And I don't want to seem blase about school shootings, because they're horrible and terrifying, but they're so rare as to be not statistically significant. And let's not romanticize how things were in the past; America once had a domestic violence epidemic that was so bad we amended the constitution to ban booze. I'd think that a single parent household is far preferable to that kind of living situation.

Look. American politicians and blowhard preachers have been making hay about the decline of American morals for as long as there's been an America. We have our problems. We've always had our problems, and the problems we have today are different from what we had yesterday and from what we'll have tomorrow. But as for some kind of modern crisis of meaning? That bullshit's at least 150 years old, and yet somehow we're all still here.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

/r/religion Thread Parent