The decline and fall of religion in America - one in three Americans now identify as ‘none’

According to a new Pew Research poll, the number of Americans identifying as atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular - the so-called ‘nones’ - is now 29%, up significantly in the last two decades. And that number probably doesn’t tell the true story because you have to wonder how many Americans who declare themselves members of a faith are nonbelievers and are too superstitious to admit it. Or are trapped in a religious life by social pressure.

Surveys conducted from the 1940s onwards showed a slow decline in religious observance in America. But in 2000, 70% of Americans still attended religious services. Since then, the decline has been precipitous. And by 2020, fewer than 50% of Americans still went to church or the like. Why? I believe it is largely due to the war on gay marriage and the melding of conservative protestants with an overtly immoral political party.

Twenty-five years ago, the idea of gay marriage was unimaginable to most Americans. Homosexuality made the majority of Americans uncomfortable. But then Ellen came out on television. And a highly-rated TV show, ‘Will and Grace’, featuring two gay characters, introduced gay culture to mainstream America.

At the same time, as Americans were becoming more familiar with the mores of gay life, conservative evangelicals waged war against a growing acceptance of civil unions for gay couples and the possibility of same-sex marriage. These religious zealots were fighting a rising tide of tolerance for what had once seemed an impossibility. Vermont legalized civil unions for gay couples in 2000. And Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004.  In response, conservative evangelicals launched a hate campaign. Red-state governments passed laws and state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage. The right-wing waged a propaganda campaign vilifying the so-called ‘gay agenda’ claiming that gay marriage was satanic - and somehow a threat to heterosexual marriage. However, regular Americans increasingly accepted same-sex marriage. And as religious conservatives revealed themselves as mean-minded, unChristian bigots, they lost support. Mainstream Protestant churches, perhaps suffering collateral damage, also suffered a decline in affiliation.

Here are the numbers as Pew reported them.

Overall, both evangelical and non-evangelical Protestants have seen their shares of the population decline as the percentage of U.S. adults who identify with Protestantism has dropped. Today, 24% of U.S. adults describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Protestants, down 6 percentage points since 2007. During the same period, there also has been a 6-point decline in the share of adults who are Protestant but not born-again or evangelical (from 22% to 16%).

Interestingly, the Catholic Church only saw a marginal decline in its membership — although this sanctimonious, self-proclaimed arbiter of morality proved to be rotten to its core. American Catholic authorities warn the Church’s adherents that fornication, adultery, contraception, abortion, and gay marriage are abominations. But the congregation largely ignores them and goes about its business. Perhaps American Catholics are more in it for the ritual than the doctrine. And we should not underestimate the influence of Pope Francis, who places far more stock in the Church’s pastoral mission than he does in its morality crusades. Although, for all his pretty words, the Church’s dogma has not changed one iota.

As well, the American Catholic Church, at least in the public mind,  has not become joined at the hip with a rabid, reactionary political party. Even though the future of a woman’s constitutional right to choice is threatened by six GOP-appointed Supreme Court justices - all of whom are Catholic.

So while the good news is that fewer Americans are in the thrall of superstition and religion, the bad news is that religion will continue to inform American politics, at least for the foreseeable future. Especially as more laws enacted by Republican state legislators allow a minority of Americans to cling to power.