I've written about the question raised in the title of this post before and, in my view, much of the ever increasing number of Americans stems from the increasingly negative connotation the term "Christian" has in society based on the toxicity of conservative Christianity which seems best defined by who is hated - i.e., almost everyone - and ties to the Tea Party which views lower class and unfortunate citizens as disposable. Because of this foul image, many who had slipped away for active church involvement do not want to be associated with religion whatsoever. I'll admit, when I encounter someone who makes a point of proclaiming that they are a Christian, the first thoughts that come to my mind are likely to be that the person must be an extremist, bigot or both. Yes, there are some exceptions, but increasingly, knowing that someone is a Christian is typically a turn off for me, especially since it seems to be only the ultra conservative intolerant ones who seem most driven to make sure they announce their religiosity to you. An article in Science & Religion Today makes the connection between the image of increasingly negative image of the Christian Right and the surge in the number of Americans disclaiming any religious affiliation. Here are some highlights:
Why Are Americans Becoming More Willing to Say They Don’t Belong to a Religious Tradition? . . . . One thing that is interesting about this is that the proportion of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has been rising for a long time. In the 1950s, only 3 percent of Americans said they had no religion affiliation. Today, it’s about 18 percent. This increase probably reflects a growing willingness among the least religious people to say that they have no religion as well as a decline in meaningful attachments to religious traditions.
But it hasn’t been going up in a straight line. The trend seems to have accelerated since 1990 ; it has gone up faster from 1990 to today than it did from 1950 to 1990. The question is: Why? What happened in the 1990s that changed the rate of increase?
I]t is part of the reaction to the religious right’s rising visibility in the 1980s. That is, before 1990, people who were raised, say, Catholic or Baptist, but were socially and politically liberal and already religiously inactive, would still be comfortable enough with their religious background to tell a pollster they were Catholic or Baptist. And then they saw all this conservative politics happening in the name of religion, in the name of their own religion maybe, and said, “You know what, I’m not that.” It pushed them across the line. They were less comfortable affiliating with the religion in which they were raised. Now, they are more likely to respond to a religious preference question by saying “none” because that is a way to say, “I’m not like them.”
Another aspect of the trend is that there’s a big generational component, meaning younger people are more likely than older people to say they have no religion. And each successive generation seems a little more likely to say that than the one before. So it’s not just people who used to say they had some religion who stopped saying it; it’s that young people today are saying they have no religion at higher rates than young people before them.
[O]ver decades, more and more people are saying “none” when asked about their religious preference. It’s still a minority. It’s still under 20 percent. But it’s increasing.
Given the trend lines, one has to again wonder why the GOP is on a long term basis putting all of its eggs in the baskets of a demographic group - i.e., aging white far right Christians - when (a) the Hispanic population is mushrooming and (b) the percentage of voters who identify with no organized religion is surging. Long term, it seems a form of political suicide. But given the present insanity of the GOP, perhaps the ultimate death of the party as its base literally dies off would be a significant positive for the USA.
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