Do you agree or disagree with the statement “religion is under attack in the U.S.?
Fifty-two percent agreed with the statement, 40% disagreed, and the balance were unsure/had no idea. As a picture of what people believe about a public policy question, I have no quarrel with the findings.
The real source of the “attack,” if you want to call it that, is today’s relatively widespread disinterest in religion and church-attendance. This disinterest is not unique to the U.S., it is relatively common throughout the developed world and became obvious in Europe before it spread to the U.S.
A century ago there was a relatively widespread consensus of religious belief here. That consensus underpinned a variety of government policies which codified various aspects of that belief into governmental structures and laws.
That consensus faded starting 50-60 years ago. Those who found those structures and laws confining have had much luck in getting them repealed. So we have same-sex marriage where we once imprisoned people for such behavior, we have legal recreational use of drugs in many jurisdictions where we once imprisoned people for this. You can think of other examples, like ignoring homelessness where once we had vagrancy laws.
And that process isn’t over, there are people trying to normalize pedophilia as this is being written. I can imagine people 30 years from now thinking Jeffrey Epstein was a martyr.
As society becomes more libertarian, more accepting of alternative lifestyles and deviant behavior, it isn’t surprising that people perceive this as an “attack” on religion. The faithful in our country are losing the culture war and that loss feels like an attack on religion. Ironically, the attack is often led by the clergy of once-mainstream churches, whose attendance has correspondingly cratered.
