Exodus of College-Educated Whites from the GOP

In my youth, Republicans valued education and knowledge. Indeed, many prided themselves on their high level of education and it was Democrats who were viewed as being "working class."  There was a reason for the term country club Republicans, a majority of which were educated professionals.  Nowadays, the demographics of the two party has flipped and college educate whites have migrated to the Democrat party as the less educated has shifted to the GOP.  Evangelical Christians who studies have shown are the least educated of various religious denominations make up the core of the GOP base, a base that, in my view, celebrates ignorance and is motivated by racism and fears of those deemed "other" - a term that applies to anyone who is not a white, conservative Christian (using the term "Christian" loosely, since these conservatives show little Christian behavior).  A lengthy column the New York Times looks at the exodus of educated whites from the GOP.  Here are highlights:  

In less than a decade, from 2010 to 2018, whites without a college degree grew from 50 to 59 percent of all the Republican Party’s voters, while whites with college degrees fell from 40 to 29 percent of the party’s voters. The biggest shift took place from 2016 to 2018, when Trump became the dominant figure in American politics.

This movement of white voters has been evolving over the past 60 years. A paper published earlier this month, “Secular Partisan Realignment in the United States: The Socioeconomic Reconfiguration of White Partisan Support since the New Deal Era,” provides fresh insight into that transformation.

The authors, Herbert Kitschelt and Philipp Rehm, political scientists at Duke and Ohio State, make the argument that the transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy has produced “tectonic shifts” leading to an “education-income partisan realignment” — a profound realignment of voting patterns that has effectively turned the political allegiances of the white sector of the New Deal coalition that dominated the middle decades of the last century upside down.

Driven by what the authors call “first dimension” issues of economic redistribution, on the one hand, and by the newer “second dimension issues of citizenship, race and social governance,” the traditional alliances of New Deal era politics — low-income white voters without college degrees on the Democratic Party side, high-income white voters with degrees on the Republican side — have switched places. According to this analysis, these two constituencies are primarily motivated by “second dimension” issues, often configured around racial attitudes, which frequently correlate with level of education.

[T]he surge of whites into the Republican Party has been led by whites with relatively high incomes — in the top two quintiles of the income distribution — but without college degrees, a constituency that is now decisively committed to the Republican Party.

According to the census, the top two income quintiles in 2017 were made up of those with household incomes above $77,552. More than half of the voters Kitschelt and Rehm describe as high income are middle to upper middle class, from households making from $77,522 to $130,000 — not, by contemporary standards, wealthy.

It’s higher income/low education whites who are currently still doing well, but fear that in the Knowledge Society their life chances are shrinking as high education becomes increasingly the ticket to economic and social success.

Low-income whites without college degrees have moved to the Republican Party, but because they frequently hold liberal economic views — that is, they support redistributionist measures from which they benefit — they are conflicted in their partisan allegiance.

High-income whites without college degrees were swing voters sixty years ago, pursued by both parties; now, they are rock-ribbed Republicans. Their share of the white electorate has fallen, however, from 42.1 to 22.0 percent. In the 1950s, high-income whites with college degrees were the base of the Republican Party — although in 1952 they made up just 6.7 percent of white voters. By 2016, this cohort had moved decisively toward the Democratic Party, as its share of the white electorate had grown to 26.0 percent. The key bloc for both Trump and the Republican Party is made up of white Christian evangelicals. Eight out of ten of these voters cast ballots for Trump, and intensely religious voters make up 40 percent of the Republican electorate. Carney and Enos see race prejudice as setting itself against the broad category of “other.” They have devised an experiment that addresses the tradition of allowing “humanity to be divided into two groups: one that embodies the norm and whose identity is valued, and another whose identity is defined by its faults, devalued and susceptible to discrimination.” The 2020 election will be fought over the current loss of certainty — the absolute lack of consensus — on the issue of “race.” Fear, anger and resentment are rampant. Democrats are convinced of the justness of the liberal, humanistic, enlightenment tradition of expanding rights for racial and ethnic minorities. Republicans, less so. This may well prove to be a base-vs.-base election, but even so the outcome may lie in the hands of the substantial proportion of the electorate that is undecided — 7 percent according to Pew. And if Democrats want to give themselves the best shot of getting Trump out of the White House, it is toward these voters that they must make concerted efforts at pragmatic diplomacy and persuasion — and show a new level of empathy.

White Christians Are Now a Minority in America

With all the bad news of late and weather related destruction, it is nice to see a little bit of what I regard as good news: self-identifying white Christians are now no longer make up a majority of citizens.  Better yet, white evangelicals have declined to only 17% of the overall population, not that we are not suffering daily from the toxicity of their poisonous version of Christianity.  These and other findings come from a new report by the Public Religion Research Institute based on a survey of a sample of more than 101,000 Americans from all 50 states.  The membership of virtually every Christian denomination has declined with the largest declines being among Millennials who have walked away from religion in no small part due to the hate and bigotry that are the hallmarks of fundamentalist and evangelical denominations and so-called "Christian" "family values" organizations.   Like previous surveys, white evangelicals are the least educated denomination.  Also, the survey confirms that the GOP is in the stranglehold of white Christians.  Here are some of the survey findings:

     Today, fewer than half of all states are majority white Christian. As recently as 2007, 39 states had majority white Christian populations. These are two of the major findings from this report, which is based on findings from PRRI’s 2016 American Values Atlas, the single largest survey of American religious and denominational identity ever conducted. Among the major findings:

1. White Christians now account for fewer than half of the public. Today, only 43% of Americans identify as white and Christian, and only 30% as white and Protestant. In 1976, roughly eight in ten (81%) Americans identified as white and identified with a Christian denomination, and a majority (55%) were white Protestants.

1. White evangelical Protestants are in decline—along with white mainline Protestants and white Catholics. White evangelical Protestants were once thought to be bucking a longer trend, but over the past decade their numbers have dropped substantially. Fewer than one in five (17%) Americans are white evangelical Protestant, but they accounted for nearly one-quarter (23%) in 2006. Over the same period, white Catholics dropped five percentage points from 16% to 11%, as have white mainline Protestants, from 18% to 13%.

1. Non-Christian religious groups are growing, but they still represent less than one in ten Americans combined. Jewish Americans constitute 2% of the public while Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus each constitute only 1% of the public. All other non-Christian religions constitute an additional 1%.

1. America’s youngest religious groups are all non-Christian. Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are all far younger than white Christian groups. At least one-third of Muslims (42%), Hindus (36%), and Buddhists (35%) are under the age of 30. Roughly one-third (34%) of religiously unaffiliated Americans are also under 30. In contrast, white Christian groups are aging.

1. There are 20 states in which no religious group comprises a greater share of residents than the religiously unaffiliated. These states tend to be more concentrated in the Western U.S., although they include a couple of New England states, as well. More than four in ten (41%) residents of Vermont and approximately one-third of Americans in Oregon (36%), Washington (35%), Hawaii (34%), Colorado (33%), and New Hampshire (33%) are religiously unaffiliated.

1. No state is less religiously diverse than Mississippi. The state is heavily Protestant and dominated by a single denomination: Baptist. Six in ten (60%) Protestants in Mississippi are Baptist. No state has a greater degree of religious diversity than New York. 

1. Jews, Hindus, and Unitarian-Universalists stand out as the most educated groups in the American religious landscape. More than one-third of Jews (34%), Hindus (38%), and Unitarian-Universalists (43%) hold post-graduate degrees. Notably, Muslims are significantly more likely than white evangelical Protestants to have at least a four-year college degree (33% vs. 25%, respectively).

1. Nearly half of LGBT Americans are religiously unaffiliated. Nearly half (46%) of Americans who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are religiously unaffiliated. This is roughly twice the number of Americans overall (24%) who are religiously unaffiliated.

1. White evangelical Protestants remain the dominant religious force in the GOP. More than one-third (35%) of all Republicans identify as white evangelical Protestant, a proportion that has remained roughly stable over the past decade. Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Republicans belong to a white Christian religious group.

If the country is lucky, the decline of white Christians will not only continue but accelerate.

Where the American Dream is Alive and Well

We hear much about the American Dream becoming increasingly unobtainable.  There is some truth to the story line and most of it comes from decades of Republican efforts to undermine the social safety net and to take from the working and middle classes and give even more benefits to the extremely wealthy.  Add to this the GOP refusal to face modernity, including climate change and it is a recipe for disaster for many.  Sadly, the willingness of far too many whites to fall for GOP class to racism and religious based bigotry has only helped to exacerbate the negative impact on large numbers of Americans.

But the American Dream is still alive and attainable.  Where do you find it?  In the nation's immigrant communities.  This is where one finds a respect for education and great efforts to learn and gain degrees.  Perhaps most importantly, this is where a willingness to move to find opportunity and a dedication to hard work still flourishes. The immigrant community that I know best is the Indian/Hindu community from which I have many clients.  Last night the husband and I went to a house warming party for an Indian-American client's spectacular new home (it was an amazing party, by the way).  As expected, numerous other clients were among the guests.  Many of these individuals were not born in America, arrived with little other than a desire to better themselves and their families, and shared a willingness to attain an education and work hard.  Our host noted that for him, America is truly a wonderful country where hard work could still move one ahead and allow one to find success.  The same stories can be found in other many other immigrant communities, including the Hispanic community. As the post yesterday on the disability epidemic in with rural America, far too many whites - the majority of whom voted for Trump and the GOP - have forgotten what is known and valued by our immigrant communities.  I feel truly blessed to have come to know the Indian-American community.

Another aspect that struck us last night was that we as an openly gay couple were completely welcomed.  Sadly, in many circles in Hampton Roads such is still often not the case.   Rather than judge people by their character and contributions to the community, the "godly Christians" reject those who are different be it in terms of skin color, faith or sexual orientation.  These "Christians" act in a manner the opposite of the Gospel message they pretend to worship. Indeed, my own quest for the American dream too a huge hit when I was forced from a large local law firm for being gay. The powers that be at the firm did  not want to upset the sensibilities of their "conservative clients."  Thankfully, things are back on a positive track for me - in no small part due to the Indian-American community's embrace of me. 

To truly make America great again, we need more hard working immigrants who put a premium on education and fewer Trump-voting whites.  

USA States Compared to Countries By Education Level

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As regular readers know, one thing that drives me to distraction is the myth of American exceptionalism, a myth most loved by Republican politicians but also foolishly embraced y Democrats as well.  The truth is that America is becoming increasing less than exceptional unless one uses ranks for gun violence and the percentage of the population of an advanced that lacks health care coverage.  Now, America ranks 28th in educational attainment and life expectancy is declining unlike in other advanced nations.   An article looks at how American states were compared to foreign nations based on educational levels.  The map they compiled is above.  Actually, Virginia did fairly well in relative terms, no doubt because of the high education levels in Northern Virginia.  Here are article highlights:

Americans like to think they’re the best when it comes to just about everything, when measured against other nations. While we’re certainly the richest, most freedom loving, and pretty much the bodyguards for the poor and defenseless, we’ve known for years that we’re certainly not the smartest country on earth.

Recently, we ranked 28th when it came to math and science scores, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

We’re really smart, people. Just not the smartest. And we’re working on it.

We thought it would be cool to align each state’s educational attainment to a country of similar intelligence. 

We used the U.S. Census to get the numbers on each state’s high school graduation rate, and then compared those numbers to the education index of each country in the world, provided by the United Nations Development Program

Many things stand out. For instance, most of the northeast – considered the ‘smartest’ region in the United States – is very similar to Europe’s education levels.

Note how the states that are GOP strongholds fared.   It actually strikes me as accurate, especially when one looks at the Deep South.  Embracing ignorance does not make "America great again."

The Global Divide on Homosexuality - Greater Acceptance in More Secular and Affluent Countries

A new Pew Research Center study has found that acceptance of gays and homosexuality correlates with a country's affluence and level of secularism.  Stated differently, the more educated and progressive a country, the more accepting the country is of gays and homosexuality.  That said, it is telling that the United States falls behind a number of European and South American counties and even Mexico and, yes, the Philippines.    The driving force behind America's relative backwardness vis-a-vis other developed and developing counties?   The Christofascists and their embrace of bigotry and ignorance.   Here are highlights from Pew study:

As the United States and other countries grapple with the issue of same-sex marriage, a new Pew Research Center survey finds huge variance by region on the broader question of whether homosexuality should be accepted or rejected by society.

The survey of publics in 39 countries finds broad acceptance of homosexuality in North America, the European Union, and much of Latin America, but equally widespread rejection in predominantly Muslim nations and in Africa, as well as in parts of Asia and in Russia.

The survey also finds that acceptance of homosexuality is particularly widespread in countries where religion is less central in people’s lives. These are also among the richest countries in the world. In contrast, in poorer countries with high levels of religiosity, few believe homosexuality should be accepted by society.

Age is also a factor in several countries, with younger respondents offering far more tolerant views than older ones. And while gender differences are not prevalent, in those countries where they are, women are consistently more accepting of homosexuality than men.

The view that homosexuality should be accepted by society is prevalent in most of the European Union countries surveyed. About three-quarters or more in Spain (88%), Germany (87%), the Czech Republic (80%), France (77%), Britain (76%), and Italy (74%) share this view, as do more than half in Greece (53%). Poland is the only EU country surveyed where views are mixed; 42% say homosexuality should be accepted by society and 46% believe it should be rejected.

Canadians, who already expressed tolerant views in 2007, are now even more likely to say homosexuality should be accepted by society; 80% say this, compared with 70% six years ago.

Opinions about homosexuality are also positive in parts of Latin America. In Argentina, the first country in the region to legalize gay marriage in 2010, about three-quarters (74%) say homosexuality should be accepted, as do clear majorities in Chile (68%), Mexico (61%) and Brazil (60%);  . . . . .

There is a strong relationship between a country’s religiosity and opinions about homosexuality.² There is far less acceptance of homosexuality in countries where religion is central to people’s lives – measured by whether they consider religion to be very important, whether they believe it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral, and whether they pray at least once a day.

There's more that is worth a read.  The bottom line message is that as has been the case for hundred of years - if not millennia - religion is the prime force behind hate, bigotry and prejudice.

How Americans Voted According to Education Level.

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In past posts this blog has looked at the correlation of education levels  to various Christian religious denominations.  The most educated are the Episcopalians and Lutherans while the least educated are  - no surprise - the most rigid evangelical denominations who view the Bible as inerrant.  Indeed, it takes ignorance in the pews to sell the far right Christianist message successfully.  The same seems to pertain to the political message and beliefs of today's Republican Party.  The chart above via Civil Commotion  tracts how the states with the best educated populations voted and contrasts that with how the states with the least educated populations voted.  Not surprisingly, the ignoramuses voted Republican. 

There once was a time when the GOP attracted highly educated voters.  Now, with the take over of the party by the far right Christians and white supremacists especially in the South, one truly needs to either have had a lobotomy or be down right ignorant to be a member of the GOP - or else perhaps driven by sheer greed.  It's not a pretty picture and any long term recovery by the Republican Party must include the rejection of a party mindset where the acceptance of ignorance and religious superstition and bigotry are treated as if they were virtues.   

As I have said before, the decline of the GOP intellectually directly corresponds with the rise of the Christianists within the party.  As more and more moderates and educated people flee the party things will only get worse.  How to stop the exodus?  Kick the Christianists to the curb.  The sooner the better. 

NOTE: The data on education levels of states came from FoxBusiness.

The Correlation Between Religiosity and Lower Citizen Well-Being

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Time and time again I've looked at the link between the lower economic performance of U.S. states deemed "conservative" and where religion is deemed "important."   The more religious and conservative a state's citizenry, the worse off economically the state is and the less competitive it is in recruiting new and lucrative business.  Now some new analysis shows that this tie between the level of religiosity also correlates to lowers societal well being.  The question is which came first? High levels of religiosity that have caused lower social well being or vice versa.  The authors of the studies put the blame on religion.  Just like some of Richard Florida's analysis that indicates the liberal states are winning out over the conservative sister states for increased business development and improved standards of living.  The map above looks at the levels of religiosity by state.  The map below looks at the so-called "Human Development Index" that considers things such as life expectancy, education, and income corruption, income disparity, child mortality, access to medical care, suicide rates, and so on:

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The South and the Bible Belt over all score the highest and also score the lowest when it comes to life expectancy, access to health care and over 20 other categories.  Texas, Georgis and North Carolina manage to dodge a dead last finish on the Human Development Index most likely because the large cities in those states counteract the abysmal results for the remainder of the state.  Mississippi and Alabama in contrast have no such major progressive cities and not surprisingly they land in the lowest category.

The author of the piece reaches a kinder conclusion toward religion than I do.  I would argue that the author has it backwards and that religiosity leads to low human development and regressive social well being.  Yes, the Christianists talk a good game about helping other and caring for their "neighbor," but in truth they don't follow through.  Meanwhile the best and brightest flee from the area - as is happening in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia - because of the backwardness of their surroundings and the depressed opportunity for advancement.   Here is the author's wrap up:

As you see, we have the same negative relationship between well-being and religiosity that we saw for different countries of the West. The correlation here is r= – 0.66897, and the probability (“p”) that this correlation would arise by chance is p = 0.00000012. (A value of p less than 0.05 is conventionally used to show a significant relationship.) This relationship, then, is not only striking but very highly significant in a statistical sense. Harry put a least-squares regression line through the data; its slope is also highly significant.

Why the correlation? Again, it could mean—but I am not pushing this interpretation as dogma—that people tend to either become more religious or retain a historical religiosity in areas where they are not very well off. There may also be ethnic differences that contribute to this (the population of blacks in America is concentrated in the south, for instance, and educational attainment is lower in general), but education itself is likely negatively correlated with indices of well being, and poverty is a component of both the HDI and SSS. Although I’m not a Marxist, Marx may have gotten it right when he said, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

The problem, in my view is that until regions throw off religiosity, they are NOT attractive to would be businesses and employers  who want to be able to attract the most able and innovative personnel.  That simply will not happen when regions and states are primary known for the knuckle dragging Christian extremist and bigoted social views.  It's a concept that has yet to be grasp by the Republican Party of Virginia and The Family Foundation.

 

U. S. Losing High Tech Jobs to Asia

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In a trend noted before on this blog, America is losing the race for new high tech - and high paying - jobs which are moving to Asia. Yes, part of the problem is the attractiveness of lower wages in Asia, but the bigger problem is the dumbing down of the American work force. And the trend will likely not improve given the soaring costs of a college education and the continued abysmal showing of the nation's schools in science. The latter situation likely to get worse as lunatic Christianists continue to push to have creationism - i.e., religion - taught instead of hard science. I'm not sure how to turn the situation around, but I do know that the active embrace of ignorance seen with the GOP base and the Christian Right is not the answer for a prosperous America in the future. Here are highlights from a Washington Post story:

The United States lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs during the past decade as U.S.-based multinational companies placed a growing percentage of their research-and-development operations overseas, the National Science Board reported Tuesday.

The rapid expansion of science and engineering capabilities in China and its neighbors pose a more formidable economic challenge to the United States, according to the group, with Asia rapidly boosting the number of engineering doctorates it produces and research dollars it spends.

The report comes as the Obama administration is seeking to make U.S. manufacturing more competitive through engineering and innovation. In June, it announced its Advanced Manufacturing Partnership and sank $500 million into the effort.

But as the National Science Board publication shows, vast government efforts in Asia are working along similar lines. It offered abundant evidence Asia’s efforts to attract and develop engineering outfits, and not just low-wage factories, have paid off. Since 2000:

•Research-and-development expenditures in China and nine other Asian countries have risen to match that of the United States.

• The number of doctoral degrees in engineering awarded in China has more than doubled, and now far exceeds the number awarded in the United States.

• The number of research workers for U.S.-based multinationals working overseas has more than doubled.

The number of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States has declined by 687,000, or 28 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the report.

The far right likes to pontificate about "American exceptionalism" but a public embracing science and accurate and true education is needed if this troubling trend is to be halted.

The Need for a Brain Power Revolution

A Washington Post column echos many of my thoughts in the last post. It lays out facts and data that tell a story far different than the one told by those who love to praise American exceptionalism even as the USA slides downward in many categories. Talk is cheap and talk that wants to move the nation backward in time is even worse. Will voters wake up to reality and reject politicians and groups that actually threaten America's future? Sadly, I am not holding my breath. Here are some column highlights:

This is a moment when policymakers should be thinking big, not small. History will little note nor long remember that the payroll tax holiday was extended for two months rather than 12. The complex and difficult questions we’re avoiding, however, may haunt us through the century.

It’s crazy to have spent so much brainpower and energy on a skirmish that was purely tactical, while blithely ignoring the enormous challenges we face. It would be difficult to squander all of our nation’s tremendous advantages. At present, however, we seem to be doing our best. The central issue is the prospect of decline.

Our systems seem to have become sclerotic. The United States still has the finest colleges and universities in the world, but it now ranks no higher than fifth among 36 industrialized countries in the percentage of working-age adults who have at least an associate degree, according to a 2011 report by the College Board. We have the most expensive medical care in the world, yet rank 50th in life expectancy, behind such nations as Jordan and Greece, according to the CIA Factbook. Our society now features less economic mobility than is found in Canada and much of Europe, according to the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Our manufacturing sector is just a shadow of what it once was, and that’s not China’s fault. . . . . Our future lies in knowledge and information. So let’s go there.

The solution that conservatives advocate — let free markets do it — isn’t enough. Yes, free markets are marvelously efficient at allocating capital and creating wealth. But they have to be overseen and helped along, as with the G.I. Bill. It’s important to remember that markets are supposed to serve the nation, not the other way around.

Since last year’s Republican landslide, instead of reaching boldly for the future we find ourselves mired in trench warfare. . . . Is the political system broken? Yes, but this can’t be an excuse. The system didn’t break itself. Our elected officials put in place the rules that create dysfunction — campaign finance regulations that allow money to corrupt the political process, redistricting procedures that ensconce our representatives in districts where they couldn’t lose if they tried. The rules can be changed.

Reality Check to the Myth of American Exceptionalism

For the record, I am not anti-American by any means. I believe that the USA is a remarkable nation in many ways. But at the same time, I believe in objective reality and that often the best patriots are those who questions what the nation and its leaders are doing in the name of all citizens. That said, late last month I wrote about the the myth of American exceptionalism which is so popular with the Christianists, the Tea Party and Sarah Palin's followers. As noted in that post, it's a myth, it's a dangerous myth, and it blinds people from facing reality. The just released results of a test called Program for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, display unsettling results. The test is given to 15-year-old students by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that includes the world’s major industrial powers, and the results show just how unexceptional the USA is in terms of knowledge. The New York Times has further details.

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The chart set out above and the USA's declining placement on educational achievement ought to be a shocking wake up call. It also indicates that rather than pushing for prayer in schools, the denigration of LGBT Americans, religious displays on public property, and teaching creationism as a science, anyone truly concerned about the nation's future - including self-anointed uber-patriotic members of the GOP base - ought to be lobbying non-stop for better schools and better curriculum. Will it happen? Not hardly because an intelligent population translates to fewer churchgoers and Kool-Aid drinking GOP members.

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HT to Bob Felton.

Virginia’s Schizophrenia

With all news coverage of the anti-gay agenda of Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli and Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, one could well get the impression that the majority of Virginians are raving, Bible thumping homophobes. Yet yesterday the boyfriend and I experienced the exact opposite when we attending the wedding of one of his clients. The wedding ceremony was held at St. John's Episcopal Church (at left) in downtown Hampton and the reception followed at the James River Country Club in Newport News overlooking the six mile wide James River. As one of two gay couples that were invited (that I know of), the fact that we were a same sex couple was a non-issue and a number of guests were interested in the Michael Moore case and were shocked that someone could be fired for being gay by a state supported museum. It is a phenomenon that I have experienced in a number of higher level social status gathering in this region, although the level of acceptance would likely be lower in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake which continue to be bastions of GOP backwardness.
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As I have related before, the extent to which individuals believe in biblical literalism - and therefore, their negative view of same sex couples - directly corresponds with level of education and denominations with generally well educated members such as the Episcopal Church tend to be the least homophobic. Conversely, the Bible thumper denominations are the least educated and most homophobic generally. The chart below shows this inverse correlation between high levels of education and belief that the Bible is inerrant and to be read as literal fact.

At the risk of being branded a snob - or even a bigot - the facts speak volumes and also explain why the wing nuts gravitate to the Christianist controlled Republican Party. As for McDonnell and Kookinelli, their puppet masters are The Family Foundation, Pat Robertson and the loons at Liberty University, so it's no surprise that they have aligned themselves with the forces of ignorance and the past in Virginia.

The Correlation BetweenEducation Levels and Homophobia

Some time back I did a post on a study that correlated levels of education with various Christian denominations. At the upper end of the educational scale were the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches, bot of which are gay accepting, and at the bottom of the educational scale were Christian fundamentalists and Pentecostals, both of which are typically rabidly gay. This result which to some might have seemed to be merely a coincidence is anything but based on the findings of a new University of Florida study which found that levels of homophobia correlated closely with levels of education. The more highly educated were more gay accepting and tolerant while the uneducated and ignorant were more homophobic. Thus, it make sense that church denominations with overall higher levels of education are the ones that accept gays while the more uneducated denominations do not. The findings would also seem to correlate well with the homophobia of the GOP base which, in my opinion, is increasingly made up of uneducated racists and what was once termed white trash. Here are some highlights from the Gainesville Sun:

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The education level of Florida voters, not race, best predicted support for the state's gay marriage ban, according to a new University of Florida study rebutting conventional wisdom. The study found education was about five times as important as race in determining whether a county's residents favored the ban. The results contradict claims that newly registered black voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama were a socially conservative group that can be credited with passing the ban.

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Controlling for political and socioeconomic factors, the study found each additional 1 percent of a county's population with bachelor's degrees correlated with a 1 percent decrease in support for the amendment. In comparison, each 1 percent increase in a county's black population led to two-tenths of a percent increase in support. "There's a lot of evidence showing increased education leads to greater tolerance," Smith said.

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Stated differently, the study shows that if politicians want to embrace ignorance and low educational levels, they should listen to the homophobes. If not, they need to reject the propaganda of the professional Christians and fundamentalist Christian zealots. It aso suggests that blacks need to be attentive to who they allow to manipulate them - uneducated Christian fundamentalist are less tolerant and less likely to support equality for blacks as well as gays.