Emergent Religions

"Emergent religions are primarily reflections of society. They are a collective attempt to understand and make meaning. In places like China where there is currently a vacuum of meaning -- no scriptures, no constitution, just the little red book of Mao, and rampant Darwinian pressure to make money -- it should be no surprise that vehicles of something larger to believe in will appear. In Russia, a belief in science mixes with a resident mysticism producing new religions. In Africa, the dire lack of health care summons all kinds of new faith healing churches. And in the west, the need to make sense of technology and our own mutating human identity will breed new religions."

http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2011/02/emergent_religi.php