In a guest essay in The New York Times, Carolyn Chen, associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-director of the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion, writes: "Plenty of writers have argued in recent years that work has become a false idol, with the office, not church, the place where many Americans now seek out meaning and purpose . As a sociologist of religion, I think these writers are right: Work is replacing ? and in some cases, even taking the form of ? religion among many of America's professionals. But as I discovered during my research, the gospel of work is thin gruel, an ethically empty solution to meet our essential need for belonging and meaning. And it is starving us as individuals and communities. If we don't want a country where people worship work, we must protect and strengthen our unions, our neighborhoods, our political groups and our mosques, churches, synagogues and temples. These civic institutions are the building blocks to creating a society where there can be more to life than work.