Americans are growing more secular all the time — which is one reason why Trump voters are so angry

by Guest Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:58 am

Despite all the posturing by conservatives about how their movement represents “real” America and liberal political attitudes are restricted mainly to the “coastal elite,” new research from the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that, at least in political terms, most Americans are secular in their orientation. While many Americans may still hold conservative personal beliefs, when it comes to the issue of church-state separation, large majorities are rejecting efforts by the religious right to use the power of the state to impose conservative Christian values on others.

In fact, the polling data shows there’s really only one group of Americans that rejects a secular society: white evangelical Christians. And this study is just further evidence that a lot of the political polarization in our country is the direct result of white evangelical Christians realizing that they no longer are the dominant majority and lashing out angrily in an effort to regain the levels of influence they used to enjoy.

For instance, the poll found that while a majority of Americans from all walks of life has come to embrace the rights of gay and lesbian Americans, white evangelicals remains stubbornly opposed to the gay rights movement. White evangelicals are the only category of the population to support business owners who want to discriminate against gay and lesbian customers.
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by Ben Reilly Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:19 pm

I think the election itself reflected this trend in some ways.

You had a candidate in Trump who is obviously very un-Christian -- setting aside his personal demeanor, he also cited "Two Corinthians" (even fake Christians know it's "Second Corinthians"); saying that he's "never asked God for forgiveness" (which, according to the Bible, means he'll go to hell); his favorite Bible verse is one that Jesus specifically refuted ( http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-names-his-favorite-bible-verse/ ); and he compared the Bible to his own The Art of the Deal ("Nothing beats the Bible, not even The Art of the Deal. Not even close.").

But in an increasingly secular society, the pickings are slim and nobody wants to be George W. Bush anymore, so "Two Corinthians (walk into a bar?)" is all they can find.

You'll see nonsense, "oh, he's been prayed over," "oh, he cares about the sick and the poor, just listen to his words," even fake news (Pope Francis supposedly endorsing him) but the Christian Right is losing its grip. At least Bush won the popular vote once and came much closer than Trump did in his other election. Now, the CR has to win like this -- a popular vote loss of nearly 3 million to the top opponent, and an Electoral College victory determined by less than 80,000 actual voters.

Americans are growing more secular all the time — which is one reason why Trump voters are so angry

Americans are growing more secular all the time — which is one reason why Trump voters are so angry

Re: Americans are growing more secular all the time — which is one reason why Trump voters are so angry