Why America Needs Religion: Secular Modernity and Its Discontents

by Guenter Lewy

In this trenchant analysis of the moral decline of modern America, Lewy describes the moral crisis caused by secular modernity and points to the role of religiousness as a necessary bulwark against today's social ills.

Genres: Religion

172 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1996

About the author

Guenter Lewy is a German-born American author and political scientist who is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His works span several topics, but he is most often associated with his 1978 book on the Vietnam War, America in Vietnam, and several controversial works that deal with the applicability of the term genocide to various historical events, where Lewy denies both the Romani genocide and the Armenian genocide.

In 1939 he migrated from Germany to Palestine. After World War II, he migrated to the United States to reunite with his parents. Lewy earned a BA at City College in New York City and a MA and PhD at Columbia University. He has been on the faculties of Columbia University, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He currently lives in Washington, D.C., and was a frequent contributor to Commentary.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised to learn that the author is agnostic, as he admits in the preface. He does a balanced job of explaining the good and bad of religious belief in the modern world as well as what secular humanism has to offer. Then, he uses sociological studies to show that religion offers more benefits than a purely humanistic worldview. What I found interesting is the comparision between the decline of members in mainline Protestant churches and the corresponding increase in members in evangelical churches, which stress a personal commitment to Christ. Or, as the Bible, puts it: "Faith without works is dead."

[John Rossitto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short yet powerful book. The author came at the issues with a point of view and had it changed by what He discovered. Offers insight into the black community problems and the impact religion could offer based on statistics. He offers further statistics on various social problems and the impact religious values have on those who live by the values in solving the issues. He has come to believe that researchers often bring their bias to the table when developing and writing papers about the impact of values on issues and in some cases admit they are wrong when new studies offer opposing conclusions. Personally, I would concur with most of the authors conclusions as from my perspective they are common sense and logically driven. In the end, the author hasn't moved to a theistic view point yet concludes that the world is and would be a better place because of the impact of Judeo Christian ethics. While not an exhaustive text, His points are well founded. As the book was written in the 90's, I do wonder how much the many of the statistics have changed.