Despite threat of Christian Nationalism, 80% of Americans say religion is "losing influence"
A new survey exposes American ignorance about the threat of theocracy
This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!
A record-high 80% of Americans say religion is losing its influence in our lives—and most Americans think that’s a bad thing.
57% of Americans have an overall positive view of religion, saying either that it’s bad that religious influence is on the decline or that they believe it’s on the rise and that’s a step in the right direction.
Only 19% of Americans hold a negative view of religion, claiming that its influence is unfortunately growing (6%) or fortunately falling (13%).
Those are just some of the takeaways from a new report just released by the Pew Research Center.
If you believe, as I do, that religion is a largely pernicious force in the U.S.—just look at how it underlies anti-abortion laws and anti-LGBTQ bigotry while giving Donald Trump the support he needs to make another run for the White House—then these results suggest we have a long way to go when it comes to educating Americans about why they’re better off without faith playing a significant role in their lives.
(I should say up front that “religion” is obviously not synonymous with Christianity, but when we talk about religion’s influence on our lives, it’s all but impossible to separate the two. No other religion in American has the power of Christianity, and conservative Christians have an outsized, unfortunate influence on all of our lives.)
The funny thing about the merging of white evangelical Christianity with Trumpism is that only a small percentage of Americans (4%) believe Trump is “very” religious. Even among Republicans, that number only jumps to 6%.
For all their bluster about the need to have God in government, only about half of Republicans think Trump is religious at all (50%). But because he pays them lip service, appoints their preferred judges, and cedes plenty of policy-determining power to Christian Right leaders, all of that seems to be forgiven.
It’s disturbing that only 54% of Americans believe President Joe Biden is religious even though he wears his Catholicism on his sleeve. But because his decisions aren’t based on his personal religious views, and because he’s not thumping you over the head with a Bible all the time like Speaker Mike Johnson does, Biden’s beliefs are treated as essentially non-existent. (Only 29% of Republicans say Biden is religious, something that is objectively true.)
In 2015 and 2016, Christian leaders spent a lot of time attempting to explain how Trump may not act or sound like one of them—explaining away his “2 Corinthians” gaffe and his bragging about sexually abusing women—but that he was working on it, which is why religious conservatives didn’t need to hesitate in supporting his candidacy. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, even said in 2016 that Trump had recently become born again, adding that he personally knew the person who “led him to Christ.” Trump, he claimed, was a “baby Christian.” (Half right!)
None of that seems to matter anymore.
White evangelicals would rather have someone who gives them political power but lives out none of their supposed values than, say, someone like Jimmy Carter, who is a living embodiment of the best kind of Christianity. The numbers bear that out, too. 67% of Republicans say Trump “stands up” for people of faith. It’s 69% among white evangelicals specifically. The gap between Trump’s rhetoric and reputation has never been wider.
But forget the candidates for a moment. What about religion in general? Have conservative Christians gone too far in imposing their views on government and public schools?
The answer, of course, is yes. We wouldn’t be having the culture war battles over things like book bans and LGBTQ inclusivity if there wasn’t an undercurrent of faith (specifically conservative Christianity) steering people in a harmful direction.
And yet only about half of Americans (48%) blame conservative Christians for going too far.
Meanwhile, 50% of Americans have fallen for right-wing rhetoric and say secular liberals are trying to keep religion out of government and schools. (As if neutrality on the subject is inherently anti-faith.)
That right there shows you the power of the conservative media environment. Whether it’s FOX News or the conservatives in the New York Times opinion section, many Americans are being spoon-fed lies about what’s actually going on.
Speaking of which, the survey also exposes how horrible a job the media has been doing when it comes to the threat of Christian Nationalism.
Only 45% of Americans have heard about it. Only 25% of Americans think it’s a problem. Even worse, those numbers are virtually identical to what they were in 2022.
At a time when Christian Nationalism forms the basis for Project 2025 (i.e. what Republicans plan to do if they control enough of the government), the fact that the majority of Americans have no clue about that link between God and government is a failure of communication. The blame can be widespread, but we can start with mainstream journalists and Democratic Party leaders. They’re so afraid of criticizing faith, period, that they’re failing to condemn the most destructive form of it.
Considering that the same survey finds that 28% of Americans believe the Bible should have more influence on U.S. laws than the will of the people, it’s imperative we keep talking about how that’s precisely what would happen if Republicans win back the White House and Senate. (And it would be the worst interpretations of the Bible, no less.)
Also troubling? Only 55% of Americans believe church/state separation ought to be enforced even though that principle forms the very foundation of our nation. (An astonishing 13% of Americans want Christianity declared the “official religion” of the country. I would bet good money those same Americans say they cherish the Constitution.)
There are some bright spots in this report, though.
When it comes to religion’s influence in society and who believes we need more of it, the numbers decline when we talk about younger Americans. So while 72% of Americans over 65 say religious influence is growing and that’s good, or that it’s declining and that’s bad, the number drops to 36% when it comes to people under the age of 30.
That makes sense. After all, the people most affected by the anti-abortion, anti-contraception, anti-IVF, anti-sex policies of the GOP are the people in the stages of life when having children is a present or future consideration.
And while only 10% of Americans over 65 have a negative view of religious influence, the number triples (30%) among people 18-29.
The survey also suggests a line of attack that Democrats can use during their campaigns.
72% of Democratic voters say conservative Christians have gone too far in pushing their beliefs in government and schools. All the more reason for candidates to express their support for church/state separation and promise to block right-wing, faith-based bigots from taking away our freedoms. (23% of Republicans feel the same way, and those potential campaign ads could also speak to them, which could be incredibly important in swing states.)
You would think the possibility of an impending theocracy would make more voters care about these issues, but most Americans tend to be apathetic about all things political. There are several months before Election Day, but people who understand what we’re up against need to do everything they can to educate voters about Christian Nationalism and why religious influence in politics (and, consequently, our lives in general) is bad for everybody.
The religious right is fighting a rear-guard action and attempting to accomplish through the courts and legislatures what they have failed to achieve from their pulpits. Year by year they cede ground they will never recover, but cling to the delusion they can impose their religion on this country. No one with an understanding of the horrors that have been perpetrated by Christians in the name of Christianity would promote Christian moral values.
As American religiosity declines, the extremism will increase. The Handmaid’s Tale wasn’t supposed to be a glimpse into America’s future.