Empty temples are usually seen from the perspective of reduced attendance at worship, poor transmission of the faith to new generations, and the eclipse of reference to God in society. These are topics on which there is a rich and varied reflection. We believe, however, that it is necessary to situate this aspect in the broader context of the current difficulties of humanistic and civic transmission, which are manifested, for example, in the problems of teaching the humanities, the decline in the expressive quality or lack of commitment to the common good. All of this involves gaps and discomforts of the self and of culture, which are mixed with the gaps of a religious nature.
Several authors have noted the transition from a cultural transmission based on the receipt of a prestigious legacy backed by reliable institutions and tradition, to a more individual and disorganized search, outside the paths of tradition and with distrust towards institutions and authorities. . The speed of change, the dissipative interference of digital networks, the contempt for memory, the sensation of provisionality and uncertainty of the transmitted knowledge, the lack of contemplative pauses, have affected religious, humanistic and civic transmissions. The transmission of scientific and technological knowledge has also changed, but its practical incidence and its economic capacities have unbalanced in its favor the preferences of many people and impose its utilitarianism and method, which make certain aspects of humanistic transmission difficult.
Instead of assimilating knowledge, it is considered sufficient to know how to search for information; instead of hierarchizing and structuring knowledge, one flees from canons and a critical spirit; instead of a knowledge based on words and abstraction, a great role is given to the image, more immediate and concrete. All of this shifts cultural sensitivity toward immediacy, emotionality, and superficiality, away from subtlety and verification.
An objective of classical humanistic training is to know one’s own cultural roots (interest that has diminished due to the process of forgetfulness, the diversification of sources of identity and the polemics of the interpretation of history). Another objective is the critical and self-critical formation of the self, the strengthening of the will and self-control, the construction of a sense of life and participation in the historical community. In these senses, religious formation is linked to the humanistic one: it forms part of cultural roots without which a good part of the historical legacy becomes indecipherable, it proposes interpretations of the meaning of life and of values ​​that guide actions and select the objectives and priorities, and requires a certain finesse of language to examine abstract and deep issues.
Some aspects of the self are different from those taken into account by classical humanism. The multiplication of external requests, the invasive overflow of information, the dispersion of options and the urgency in decision-making mean that the interiority of the individual is torn in permanent instability, caused by internal factors (the short term and individualism) and external (the need for action and the excess of information). This contrasts with the humanistic ideals of the construction of the self through slow discussion, knowledge, a critical spirit, perseverance, and appreciation of effort.
Classical humanism combines the self and society. Religious formation is also concerned with the construction of community, with the ethical values ​​that can inspire conduct, with the social conditions of work, with the recognition of the other. Currently, these values ​​and knowledge are under discussion, due to the growth of an individualism focused on its own rights, demands and discomforts, which insists on the psychological dimension of its anxieties and which abandons the participatory and political dimension of life.
Between forgetfulness and the apocalypse, in a reduced but intense temporal focus in which the past counts for little and the future is uncertain and threatening, religious transmission shares many aspects with those of humanistic and civic transmission. It can provide self-knowledge, with respect to others, civic commitment, ethical self-demand and spiritual strength, which would contribute to an internal balance and external action more satisfactory than now.
