America: Two Nations – Only One Under God?

By: American Decency Staff

 

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n writing recently about Atlantic contributor Jeffrey Tayler’s longing to see religious believers placed in “straitjackets,” I was reminded once again of the astounding recent triumphalism from the secular Left. If 2015 has a culture-war theme so far, it might be “the year of the liberal gloat” — and not without some justification. First, the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Survey saw large-scale increases in the “nones” — those people who declare no religious affiliation — and corresponding decreases in Christian religious identification. As a result, America seems to be moving inexorably left on key social issues. Second, in large-scale culture clashes — such as the religious-liberty battles in Indiana and Arkansas — the combination of secular media, social media, and corporate pressure put conservative politicians to flight. And then, of course, the Supreme Court not only created a constitutional right to same-sex marriage out of whole cloth, it did so in a manner that all but establisheda new civic religion.

The collective picture is one of a nation in a process of deep and profound change, with orthodox Christians guarding an ever-shrinking cultural, political, and spiritual perimeter. But that’s not the entire story. What if America, instead of simply secularizing, were becoming simultaneously more secular and more religious? In other words, what if the country were simply becoming more religiously polarized just as it is becoming more politically polarized?

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