“Surveys of those who identify with Christian nationalist beliefs consistently show that this group feels that they are subject to more discrimination and marginalization than any other group in society, including Islamic people, Black people, atheists, Jewish people,” Gill said. “Do not make me NOT do what my God tells me I have to do,” said the Republican Montana congressman John Fuller, a supporter of the law.Īlison Gill, vice-president for legal and policy at American Atheists, who authored a report into the creep of Christian extremism in the US, warned that the drop-off in religious adherence in America could actually accelerate that effort, rather than slow it down. Montana is set to pass a law which would allow people or businesses to discriminate, based on religion, against the LGBTQ community. The governor of Arkansas recently signed into law a bill that allows medical workers to refuse to treat LGBTQ people on religious grounds. In states including Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida, Republicans have introduced legislation which would variously hack away at LGTBQ rights, reproductive rights, challenge the ability of couples to adopt children, and see religion forced into classrooms. You virtually have to wear religion on your sleeve in order to be elected Annie Laurie Gaylor “As religion has been closed linked with conservative politics, we’ve had Democrats opting out of organized religion, or being less involved, and Republicans opting in,” she said.Ĭhristian nationalists – who believe America was established as, and should remain, a Christian country – have pushed a range of measures to thrust their version of religion into American life. But she agreed another factor is the rightwing’s infusion of politics with theism. “That means non-identification is going to continue becoming a larger share of population over time as cohort replacement continues to occur,” Margolis said.
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More than 20% of all Americans are classed as “nones”, Margolis said, and more than a third of Americans under 30. The number of people who identify as non-religious has grown steadily in recent decades, according to Michele Margolis, associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of From Politics to the Pews.
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Which in turn suggests that the allergic reaction will continue to be seen – and thus more and more Americans will turn away from religion,” he said. “I see no sign that the religious right, and Christian nationalism, is fading. Campbell says there has always been an ebb and flow in American adherence to religion, but he thinks the current decline is likely to continue.
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Research by Campbell shows that a growing number of Americans have turned away from religion as politicians – particularly Republicans – have mixed religion with their politics. Young people are especially allergic to the perception that many – but by no means all – American religions are hostile to LGBTQ rights.” “Since that is not their party, or their politics, they do not want to identify as being religious. “Many Americans – especially young people – see religion as bound up with political conservatism, and the Republican party specifically,” Campbell said. Republican church members declined too, but only by 12%.ĭavid Campbell, professor and chair of the University of Notre Dame’s political science department and co-author of Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics, said a reason for the decline among those groups is political – an “allergic reaction to the religious right”. The number of Democratic church members dropped by 25% over the 20-year period, with independents decreasing by 18%. Some of the decline is attributable to changing generations, with about 66% of people born before 1946 are still members of a church, compared with just 36% of millennials.Īmong other groups Gallup reported, the decline in church membership stands out among self-identified Democrats and independents. That began to change in 2000, and the number has steadily dropped ever since.
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Gallup began asking Americans about their church membership in 1937 – and for decades the number was always above 70%. This week the governor of Arkansas signed a law allowing doctors to refuse to treat LGBTQ people on religious grounds, and other states are exploring similar legislation. The evidence comes as Republicans in some states have pursued extreme “Christian nationalist” policies, attempting to force their version of Christianity on an increasingly uninterested public.