Kingdoms To Come

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As the year 2092 dawns, Catholicism remains the largest component within Christianity, the world's biggest and most widespread faith. In the preceding century, the papacy has been making the multicultural rounds. A safe Italian followed the sharp-edged Pole, John Paul II, but then came South American, African and Asian Popes (one African American nearly made it). Finally, the Italians reinstituted their monopoly over the throne of Peter. The incumbent Italian, Pope Pius XIV, is slowly reacquiring some of the art masterpieces sold off to cover Vatican debts.

At the formal level, nothing much came of the moral rearrangements that some Catholics used to advocate back in the late 20th century, such as the right to divorce, tolerance for gay sex and, above all, birth control. Rome's insistence on adhering to church tradition has required the hierarchy to hold the line, but in practice most local priests wink at widespread violations of these tenets. Parishes have become considerably more democratic, and lay people (most of them women) perform most tasks, including administration of everything but the sacraments. The ban on women priests, however, remains in force. Priests and bishops are still appointed from on high, but one major organizational change has been in place for decades: many married men serve as Catholic priests to ease the clergy shortage.

Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, with their emphasis on ritual, are well suited to a world in which few people bother to read. Theology is a dying art. Schoolchildren are ignorant of the Bible and hence bereft of their spiritual heritage. The postliterate era has been especially difficult for Protestantism, which depended so heavily upon rationalism and reading. Although old-style Protestants are shrinking in numbers, they retain outsize influence because so many of them remain book readers and are thus inevitably leaders of the economic ruling class on all continents.

The papacy is ecumenically friendly and has helped establish an innocuous organization, the World Christian Conference. But decades ago, Rome's intransigence about its powers killed off hopes for a grand reunion with Eastern Orthodoxy. Nor do the Protestants show much interest in mergers; unruliness characterizes the Evangelicals, Charismatics and independent African churches. The Protestant liberals, only vaguely Christian any longer, harbor anger about Rome's decisive moves in the 2040s to restrict Bible criticism and halt efforts to blur the lines between Christianity and other religions.

Yet cooperative activity thrives in other ways. Virtually all Christians have united in a cultural movement to eradicate the last vestiges of anti- Jewish sentiment. But less concord is in evidence with Islam, the world's second-ranking religion. The Prophet's faith, while huge, is circumscribed in its cultural impact because its brightest youths are totally secularized in outlook, even though they maintain the outward forms of devotion. The many Islamic revival regimes have failed to manage their economies or to foster political democracy. Leaders allow almost no free intellectual discussion in religion or in anything else. Women are not encouraged to contribute anything to Islamic thought. A few scattered intellectuals are again starting to question this whole stultifying state of affairs.