As Christianity declines in America, bigotry rises
by Janice Shaw Crouse, LifeSite:
Pundits of all political stripes are taking note of the fact that the 2020 election is bringing to the fore just how deep and bitter are the cultural divisions within our nation. The glaring decline in political comity rivals that of the days leading up the Civil War. While the political divide is obvious and bitter, the growing religious divide is also increasingly obvious, and, perhaps, this development has been a stronger factor in the social and cultural divisions of the American public than has been previously acknowledged.
It has been little noted in the mainstream media, but the percentage of American adults who identify as non-Christian — those individuals who are labeled “none” in terms of religious identification — “continues to change at a rapid pace,” according to the Pew Research Center after its telephone interviews in 2018 and 2019. Most recently, “65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians — down 12 percentage points over the past decade.” Fully “17 percent of Americans describe their religion as ‘nothing in particular’ — up from 12% in 2009.” In sum, non-Christian religious affiliations are growing as a share of the adult population. Not surprisingly, Americans also say “religion is losing influence in American life.” Although most adults think private religious observance is a good thing, nearly two thirds think the church should stay out of political matters.
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