Yet the rise of secularism isn’t remarked upon in the mainstream media, which prefers mega-church scaremongering (evangelicals are coming to get you!), or condescending articles on virginity balls and the like. So why does the growing secular minority feel besieged by the shrinking religious majority?
This mixture of fear, disdain, and incomprehension might be a legacy of recent (until 2006) electoral defeats, but—in defiance of popular myths —Americans aren’t eager to impose religion via the ballot box. Most voters say that religion seldom or never influences their voting decisions, and voters are far more concerned about officials who pay too much attention to religion than those who pay too little (51 vs. 35 percent in a 2004 CBS/New York Times poll), as the Schiavo backlash reflects.
Even within the most religious groups of voters, such as born-again Christians, religious beliefs only have a limited relationship to political beliefs. For example, according to Barna Group research, one-third of born-again Christians believe that abortion is morally acceptable behavior. Nor does the religious right vote as a monolithic bloc. In 2000, 10 million white evangelicals, and almost half of all voters that self-identify as “religious right” but go to church less than once a week, voted for Gore over Bush.
A Post-Christian America... The supposed religious revival is mirage: Americans are becoming godless
8mm
