Morality, community, meaning & purpose in a post-religious society
Lightening strikes and a thousand prongs of light illuminate the land before you; the black swirling sky above erupts with the drum beats of what can only be the furious gods! You and your family drop to the ground in crouched prayer, chanting over and over the mantra of peace and forgiveness that the village leader taught would appease the Gods who rule the lands and people. After ten minutes of chanting, the drum beat subsides, and the sky show ceases. The gods have heard your pleas and granted a reprieve from ongoing punishment — punishment delivered because of the unmarried women in the village, or because insufficient child sacrifices were made, or because adherence to the daily prayer routine has been lax of late.
Ancient peoples relied on their religion and gods to explain the world around them, to give meaning to their lives, to feel a sense of agency, and to provide a moral framework to bring about order and peace. A community bonded by shared beliefs was stronger and more unified, better able to survive the struggles of nature and defend against man-made threats. Over several centuries, the vocal few who argued against religion and the gods have now become the many. In the 21st century, secularity is the fastest-growing “religion” globally — a trend confirmed by the Australian Bureau of Statisticsand global surveys from the Pew Research Center.
And why is this? I contend that with the progress and achievements of science, humans are growing up and out of their need for religion and the gods. Join me as I explore why religion was once crucial to human life — and how we, as a modern society, are seeking alternatives and evolving beyond the training wheels of life.
Article Contents
- How Religion Helped Humans Understand The Universe
- Knowing Right From Wrong
- Community, Cohesion, & Belonging
- Meaning & Hope
- Final Thoughts
How Religion Helped Humans Understand The Universe
In the 21st century, we take for granted simple ideas like weather forecasting, nutrition, or the movement of stars in the night sky. It’s easy to look down on ancient peoples for their seemingly ignorant beliefs, but they had no knowledge of cellular biology, animal behaviour, cosmology, the brain, or environmental systems, no proof to ground their beliefs in except what sacred texts and religious prophets told them. With little more than faith and fear to guide them, humans developed rituals and routines that offered a fragile sense of stability in times of profound uncertainty.
Without the power of science, the Greeks believed plagues came from Apollo’s arrows, and medieval Europeans blamed witchcraft for misfortune. In the grandest display of immature egocentrism, humans also believed that the Earth was the centre of the cosmos; with Copernicus bravely declaring we had this wrong.
Unlike earlier humans, today we have tools to understand lightening, thunder, disease, animals, the stars, and oceans. We no longer need to invoke an Intelligent Designer to explain how the universe began. Observations of cosmic microwave background radiation confirm that the Big Bang marks the start of our universe, and this is broadly accepted by scientists worldwide. That universal order exists — and that complex biological systems evolved from stardust — are foundational pillars of modern science, affirmed by surveys of scientific consensus.
Despite these incredible advances, humanity cannot afford to proceed with unchecked arrogance. With roughly 96% of the observable universe still unstudied and unknown, we have much to learn — and our best chance of doing so lies with science, not religion and the gods.
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Knowing Right From Wrong
Religion, scripture, and gods have historically offered humans strict guidelines for how to behave, what choices to make, and how to punish those who deviate. Everyone knew what was expected of them, and this knowledge was reinforced by trusted religious figures. On reflection, it’s easy to see why society benefited from shared and enforced morality — aligned groups enjoyed greater stability, and therefore greater chances of survival, as social theorists such as Kathleen Carley have long observed.
Highlighting this advantage, however, should not be mistaken for endorsement of religious morality itself. History offers countless reminders of the atrocities committed in the name of gods and faith — from the Crusades to the European Witch Trials and the Thirty Years’ War — each a brutal demonstration of how divine conviction can justify cruelty.
Despite our incredible advancements as a society, modern humans continue to turn to their religious texts for moral guidance. Take, for example, the Christian proverb, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” This is, essentially, a call to physically punish a child — despite decades of scientific evidence showing that such discipline results in harmful developmental outcomes, as documented by researchers in The Lancet. Rigorous, replicable, and scrutinised science has demonstrated this to be factual.
It follows, then, that children and adults alike would be safer, more prosperous, and mentally healthier if humanity were to anchor its moral compass not in scripture, but in empathy and compassion. Studies published in Frontiers in Psychologyshow that empathy effectively promotes prosocial behaviour, while research in Conflict Resolution Quarterlydemonstrates that compassion can transform conflict into understanding.
Religious proponents may claim their traditions encourage empathy and compassion — and for the few who interpret their faith through a lens of discernment and self-awareness, this may be true. But for the majority, morality filtered through dogma too often carries the baggage of punishment, guilt, and exclusion. Humanity no longer needs the threat of divine wrath to behave with decency. It is time we enshrine empathy and compassion as universal principles — not because they are commanded by gods, but because they are good for us, for our children, and for the world we share.
Community, Cohesion & Belonging
Groups that work together, believe together, and support one another are stronger and better equipped to survive life’s ups and downs. Decades of research, such as Hardy and colleagues’ work on group cohesion, and later analyses by DeChurch and Mesmer-Magnus and Donelson Forsyth, have confirmed the power of unified groups. In ancient times, when survival was a day-to-day struggle, group cohesion could mean the difference between life and death. The stories, rituals, and moral codes offered by religion gave people a shared narrative powerful enough to live and die by — and together, they were stronger. That principle remains true today.
But as individuals and societies move beyond religion — a shift reflected in data from the Australian Bureau of Statisticsshowing the rapid rise of “No religion” — we must ask: does this shift threaten our sense of unity and belonging? The short answer is that it might. Data on loneliness and the growing fragmentation of modern society are not yet conclusively linked to the decline of religion, but it isn’t difficult to imagine that the two are related. If religion is fading, taking with it a millenia’s-old source of cohesion, where will modern humans find that same sense of community and belonging?
Shared passions such as sport or music can offer powerful forms of connection. A recent study in the Sports Law, Policy & Diplomacy Journal found that football fandom across Europe fosters identity and social cohesion, uniting people across class and national lines. On a broader scale, shared causes like planetary stewardship and human progress could become new anchors of collective meaning — bringing us together in a consciousness rooted not in worship, but in empathy and responsibility for Earth.
Still, the transition away from religion is not a simple one. Research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that even self-identified atheists in secular societies display intuitive preferences that favour belief, showing just how deeply ingrained religious frameworks can be. Declaring disbelief to family, friends, or a once-tight congregation can be an act of quiet rebellion, even rupture. One can only take this step when they have reconciled their inner life with the realities of the natural world — and no one can be forced to do so. Yet the winds of change are here. As more of us grow beyond religion and begin to connect around shared values of curiosity, compassion, and truth, a new kind of community is forming — one that does not require faith, only the courage to care.
If not religion, then what?
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Meaning & Hope
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols (1888)
Nietzsche, and later Viktor Frankl, both emphasised that beyond our basic physiological needs, humans require hope and meaning in order to survive. For all the reasons explored above, religion has long satisfied this need — providing answers to life’s deepest questions and giving people something worth sacrificing for. Finding meaning outside religion is difficult, as shown in research comparing secular and religious meaning-making in the journal Social Science & Medicine. For millennia, religion has given humanity a story that explains suffering and offers hope of eternal peace. Its texts reassure us that “you are important,” “your suffering has a purpose,” and “what you do while alive will affect what happens after you die.” It makes perfect sense that earlier humans would be believers — and even why religion continues to persist, as described in Crystal Park’s work on Religion as a Meaning System.
But what about those who can no longer lean on religion for hope? The meaning crisis among secular communities is real and increasingly urgent. Those who live without meaning are at significantly higher risk of depression, loneliness, and social alienation. Research published in BMC Psychiatry found that a crisis of meaning exacerbates general mental distress, while meaningfulness itself acts as a protective factor. Based on findings like these, it might seem logical to cling to religion for the comfort it offers — but once a person begins to disaffiliate, returning is rare. The Pew Research Center’s 2025 global analysis found that once individuals leave religion, few ever go back.
So with the transition to a secular society now well underway, how do those who have moved beyond religion find meaning? How do they endure suffering and tragedy without the promise of divine comfort or an everlasting afterlife? Fortunately, these question have not gone unanswered.
A large Danish study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology found that leaving a legacy, contributing to others’ lives, and connecting with the natural environment were all strongly associated with meaning and mental wellbeing. We also see new secular communities forming — such as the Sunday Assembly in the UK, which offers members a sense of belonging, shared ritual, and purpose without invoking the supernatural.
Final Thoughts
The cosmos and humanity are ever-changing, and our relationship with religion is no exception. Religion looked after us when humanity was young; helping us navigate life long enough to evolve into a future where answers now replace superstition, and “we don’t know” has become the preferred gap-filler. We now understand what we need to live long and meaningful lives — and with empathy as our guiding light, the future looks bright, curious, and profoundly hopeful for humankind.
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