The Pew study on the growth of the "Nones"

R' Yitzchak Adlerstein of Cross Currents has a fascinating article which addresses the latest Pew study which follows up on the reasons why so many Americans are leaving religion.

they’ve come to realize that religion is the opiate of the masses; understanding science obviates the need for religion; they find religious belief irrational or unfounded; they prefer to make their own decision, rather than rely on some external authority; as scientists, they cannot believe in miracles.

R' Adlerstein is concerned that this attitude is seeping into the Orthodox community and it's influence will only grow. Therefore, he believes that Jewish education needs to adapt and provide more sophisticated and better answers:

we need more educators who have sufficient grasp of the great works of the Rishonim that they can distill their essence and convey them in the vernacular to less sophisticated audiences. (Elementary school children don’t have to know about the Rambam’s Moreh, but I would submit that people who have not puzzled through it, the Kuzari, and R Sadyah Gaon are more likely to come up with philosophical pablum rather than anything of substance – even when speaking to children.) We need more rabbeim who have absorbed and personalized works that address modern and post-modern questions, like R Samson Raphael Hirsch and R. Kook. We need teachers who can convey the depth of the more intellectual chassidus, like Sfas Emes and R. Tzadok. We need to take our children out of classrooms that suppress questions, or offer dumb answers.

I believe that his approach is doomed to failure for a number of reasons:

1. The Charedi world will never accept it. During the Slifkin affair R' Hirsch was described by a R' Moshe Shapiro as "not from our Beis HaMidrash". Likewise, R' Kook is persona non grata in the Charedi world.  Even the Moreh Nevuchim of teh Rambam is completely ignored in the Charedi world. There is no way that the Charedi world will change their approach.
2. The Philosophical works of the Rishonim that he mention (Moreh Nevuchim, Kuzari, etc) are basically irrelevant today. Philosophy has moved on and thereofre the questions and answers that they deal with are not the questions and answers of today. Likewise for the later authors that he mentioned as well. They simply don't address the questions of today.

I would like to expand on point 2 above. The issues with Judaism today fall under the following general categories:

• Contradictions between science and Torah - These are relatively new questions and we aren't going to find answers in the Rishonim or even the Acharonim.  Science has progressed so much since even R' Hirsch's time that he doesn't address the current issues. The fact is that there are no good answers to the science torah contradictions.  The only 2 approaches are outlined below and neither is very satisfactory: 
• Bury your hand in the sand and deny any contradictions (the Charedi approach)
• Admit that Chazal used the science of their times and then scramble to deal with the halachic issues. For example, much of classical kashrus Yoreh Deah is based on ideas about בליעה which are simply not true of todays materials. Once you go down that path is is a very slippery slope.
• The historicity of the Torahs account - Again this is a relatively new question. Until the late 1700s the Torah was looked upon as a historical document and no one disputed the facts. Nowadays, the seminal events in the Torah are denied by historians and archeologists. The Rambam, Kuzari, R' Saadya, R' Hirsch, even R' Tzadok can't help here.
• The numbers in the Torah (600,000 men, 2-3 million people) leaving Egypt is simply not believable given everything we know about population numbers at that time. Add in the medrash quoted by Rashi that only 1/5 of the Jewish population left Egyot (4/5 died) the numbers become simply ridiculous. 
• Some version of the Documentary Hypothesis calls into question whether the Torah was given from God.  
• There is no evidence that there was global flood, in fact, there is much evidence that there was no global flood.
• Mesora - As I have pointed out in my numerous posts on this blog, the mesora which is the cornerstone of Orthodoc Judaism, is itself under question and the orthodox view of משה קבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע is becoming harder and harder to believe. 
• Ethical and Moral concerns - The Torah is out of step with current Western values and seems to be morally and ethically deficient when measured against them:
• Slavery - The Torah condones and actually promotes slavery (of non-Jews) including a prohibition to free a non-Jewish slave. 
• Genocide - The Torah describes and commands genocide
• Womens status - Halacha relegates women to a secondary status, there is no getting around it. In today's world where a woman is Chancellor of Germany, Prime Minister of England, and may become President of the United States, excluding women from positions of power in the Jewish world e.g. women rabbis) is seen as immoral and backwards. Divorce is another area where halacha is unfair to women.
• Sexual issues - In today's world being gay or lesbian is seen as normal and driven by genetics.

R' Adlerstein proposes to use the existing intellectual mesora (Rambam, Kuzari, R' Tzadok, etc.) to help people deal with questions. IMHO this is doomed to failure because these issues are not really addressed by the existing Mesora. One of the most frustrating email exchanges I had was with a Charedi Rabbi when I asked him many of the internal questions that I raised on this blog. His response was that the Maharal answered my questions and he referred me to various Maharal's. I had a very very hard time convincing him that the Maharal did not deal with the questions I was asking him.  He finally agreed with me that the Maharal did not address the questions and neither did anyone else. 

The bottom line is that R' Adlerstein believes that there are answers, I and the people who read this blog, who are the people he is trying to reach don't see any good answers.