I am in the middle of reading a highly fascinating book, After Heaven, by Robert Wuthnow. So far, one of his main goals is to show how American spirituality has changed since the 1950s, having evolved from a spirituality centered around a dwelling (home, church or synagogue) to a spirituality of seeking, which is less communally focused and more individually focused. I have so far read his discussion of life in the 1950s and 1960s/1970s. I am now up to his presentation of religion in the 1980s, which he sees as a period of fundamentalism.

One idea which I have found quite interesting and would like to share (though my thinking might change upon finishing the book) was that people began to realize that spiritual diversity was dangerous. The problem with spiritual diversity before the 1980s is that it left parents unable to provide children with absolutes, meaning children were told that whatever they wanted mattered. This removed the ideas of discipline from children's lives, making more difficult to inculcate certain values into their lives. While I am an advocate of diversity, there are dangers to lacking discipline in one's search. While people should not be monolithic, at the same time, the lack of an approach to life is also dangerous.

Religion, on some level, can provide that discipline. I am not advocating a monolithic approach to religion, where everything must result from one path. Incorporating ideas from other places is important when they can enhance. I am, however, saying that one needs to stick to a certain base religion, thus creating the discipline. Without the base, the enhancements can not be effectively used.