Religiosity is on the increase in every part of the world apart from Western Europe.
Many years ago I thought of making a series about ‘The High Places’ and why so many religions across the world went ‘up’ mountains to worship their gods. If this had been the only thing religious people did it would have been the perfect description of being visited by aliens millennia ago and the primitive human beings seeing the space ship take off associating the sky with gods forever more.
Thankfully the same feeling is generated in dark, cavernous places such as those used by various Oracles in the time of Greeks.
It isn’t so much the inaccessibility or loneliness of these places that works on the potential numinous of such places, as their being out of the day-to-day. Human beings are a species of open plains, seas and valleys. Mountains get colder as you go up and caves get darker as you go down. They are not first choice of places we like to live. And worshiping gods in and on them takes a bit of effort, which gods seem to appreciate.
And you may ask since I believe in the profound idea that human beings are given to worshiping because of our natures and not because of any real divine being existing, why I pick up on this? Because in this Western Europe is once again leading the world.
There is a scientific renaissance coming in this century which will leave religions without even their perceived preeminence in ethics. Religions are becoming purely metaphysical.