There is more good news for those who view religion as a toxic in society: the number of Americans claiming no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990 and I would argue that much of the change has been driven by the ugly face of Christianity demonstrated daily by the Christofascists, the pure moral bankruptcy of the Catholic Church leadership and the ineffectiveness of more liberal and enlightened denominations to stem the negative view of religion offered by "conservative"Christians and fundamentalists who seem most motivated by fear and hatred of others rather than the Gospel message. Perhaps most notable is that for the under 30 generations, 30% report no religion. That's not to say the "nones" aren't spiritual, they simply are over the meanness, divisiveness, hypocrisy, pettiness and corruption of institutional religion. Here are highlights from a Washington Post article on the issue:
One-fifth of U.S. adults say they are not part of a traditional religious denomination, new data from the Pew Research Center show, evidence of an unprecedented reshuffling of Americans’ spiritual identities that is shaking up fields from charity to politics.
Their numbers have increased dramatically over the past two decades, according to the study released Tuesday. About 19.6 percent of Americans say they are “nothing in particular,” agnostic or atheist, up from about 8 percent in 1990. One-third of adults under 30 say the same.
For the first time, Pew also reported that the number of Americans identifying themselves as Protestant dipped below half, at 48 percent. But the United States is still very traditional when it comes to religion, with 79 percent of Americans identifying with an established faith group.
Members can be found in all educational and income groups, but they skew heavily in one direction politically: 68 percent lean toward the Democratic Party. That makes the “nones,” at 24 percent, the largest Democratic faith constituency, with black Protestants at 16 percent and white mainline Protestants at 14 percent. By comparison, white evangelicals make up 34 percent of the Republican base.
The study presents a stark map of how political and religious polarization have merged in recent decades. Congregations used to be a blend of political affiliations, but that’s generally not the case anymore. Sociologists have shown that Americans are more likely to pick their place of worship by their politics, not vice versa.
“We think it’s mostly a reaction to the religious right,” said Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, who has written at length about the decline in religious affiliation. “The best predictor of which people have moved into this category over the last 20 years is how they feel about religion and politics” aligning, particularly conservative politics and opposition to gay civil rights.
For the presidential campaigns, the data reflect a simple fact on the ground. Three-quarters of unaffiliated voters voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Today, the unaffiliated break like this: 65 percent for Obama, 27 percent for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
The nones are strongly liberal on social issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage . . . If they have an issue, it’s that they don’t believe religion and politics should mix.
Lorna Stuart, 74, of Newport News, Va., describes herself as having “no particular religion” and says she votes Democratic because she is strongly in favor of abortion rights. She likes the fact that she doesn’t often hear Democratic candidates talking about religion. . . . . she thinks traditional religion is too focused on rules and sin and “things that really don’t apply to God,” she said in an interview Monday.
The nones are far less likely to attend worship services or to say religion is important in their lives. But 68 percent say they believe in God or a universal spirit, one-fifth say they pray every day and 5 percent report attending weekly services of some kind.
Let's hope the Christianist continue to be the best advertisement for leaving organized religion and that over time the number of "nones" sharply increases. It is far past time that fear and hate based religion dies a much needed death in this country. Religion in my view does far more evil than good.
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