The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers —- or falling off the faith map completely.
These dramatic shifts in just 18 years are detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), to be released today. It finds that, despite growth and immigration that has added nearly 50 million adults to the U.S. population, almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990.
I am very surprised at the number of people who are telling me that they are finding these results surprising.
Look, people, we know all this already. The Moral Majority was never a majority. Multiculturalists won the culture wars. The so-called "clash of civilizations" was a scam-framing through which one marginal fundamentalist sect sought to prevail over another marginal fundamentalist sect. People's declarations of faith don't necessarily impact their deeper secularist practices and intuitions about decent treatment of the diversity of their peers. Ignorance of evolution is like ignorance about the nutritional impact of a popsickle and does not necessarily indicate the desire of a majority of Americans to live in a Christianist theocratic dictatorship even if the people who like to act as spokesmodels for these ignoramuses on broadcast media outlets want to live in a Christianist theocratic dictatorship (so long as I get to be the dictator, heh heh). And so on.
I get it. Maybe you are from a small town full of dumb hayseeds. Maybe your family's bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism caused you great pain growing up. And then maybe you went to college or moved to the big city, and overcame all that, possibly in one ecstatic joyful illumination or possibly through a painful series of discoveries and personal reckoning. I don't know, whatever happened that consolidated your sense of yourself as a secular democratic progressive devoted to an environmentally sustainable tolerant planetary multiculture and so on, most of us have versions of these stories we can tell.
But you need to understand that your dumb parents or your dumb childhood suburb or hick-town are not America. America left that small town with you, America overcame that insular bigoted idiocy when you did. You are America. You didn't leave America, America became you.
Mainstream media hasn't quite grasped this, and if you were surprised by the new American Religious Identification Survey results then maybe you haven't quite grasped it yet either. Thank heavens Obama grasped it, and acted accordingly. It made him President and possibly saved our skins.
America is becoming day by day by day an ever more diverse, secular, urban, pragmatic, convivial multiculture.
Please make a note of it, get used to it, and act accordingly.
> Look, people, we know all this already. The Moral Majority
ReplyDelete> was never a majority. Multiculturalists won the culture wars. . .
>
> America is becoming day by day by day an ever more
> diverse, secular, urban, pragmatic, convivial multiculture.
>
> Please make a note of it, get used to it, and act accordingly.
You know, something that continues to shock and titillate me,
even though I'm hardly surprised by it, is the degree to which
kids who don't fit their families' expectations -- and of course
I'm mostly thinking about gay kids here -- are posting their
stories and hooking up on YouTube.
Go to http://www.youtube.com and type "coming out archive" in
the Search box, and you'll see what I mean.
The first such story I stumbled across (via Google)
was the saga of a guy named Derek (who calls himself r0sewhip137,
and who has his own YouTube channel). He's a circa 17-year-old (yes,
a minor!) whose parents are **not at all** thrilled that he's
gay and who has the cojones to say to the whole world "My mom's
been such a b*tch about it -- she's always picking on me for
what she sees as signs of effeminacy", etc. Here's a favorite
of mine among his videos -- "If I Was Straight"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqdtlUDuiFg
God only knows if his parents have any clue what their son is
doing. My parents would have gone ballistic, then catatonic,
under similar circumstances. And he's still living at home!
When I was that age, or even a little older, I couldn't even
make a phone call, for chrissakes, in private. There was a
time, when I was living at home and commuting to college, when
I kept an old black rotary-dial phone I'd picked up at Radio
Shack in the trunk of my car. If I needed to make a private
call, I'd sneak out at night, get the phone out of the car,
take the phone and a screwdriver around to the back yard,
unscrew the cover of the phone junction box on the outside
of the house, and attach the phone to the line with alligator
clips. Then I'd sit in the iris bed and talk (very quietly).
God knows what the neighbors thought.
Another group of YouTubers I find fascinating for some
reason are the female-to-male transexuals, vlogging about
their transitions. A favorite is ANFjace (in Alabama, I
believe). E.g., http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdo4UCAk1f4
If the would-be Internet censors had had their way (the
authors of COPA, etc., during the Clinton era) none
of this could exist. The fact that it does exist must
annoy some folks no end. But the genie's out of the bottle,
and indeed, everybody is gonna get used to it.
So are you saying Chris Hedges should stop ranting?
ReplyDelete> Another group of YouTubers I find fascinating for some
ReplyDelete> reason are the female-to-male transexuals, vlogging about
> their transitions. A favorite is ANFjace. . .
Oh, and DominoAyeJae
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3CicpFGlv8
and jacoblotcky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H5hK3xsNp4
I like Chris Hedges, at least for the most part.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't hurt to recall that fundamentalists (among whom I count free-market ideologues parading as radical liberals and advocates of hyper-reductionist scientisms parading as secular champions of consensus science) often compensate for their marginality with extremity -- disciplinary lockstep, unscrupulousness rationalized by the Noble Lie, skewed influence via whomped up monetary contributions and volunteerism inspired by perceived threat and its desperation, and so on.
Christianists are still a real threat to the American way of life, even if -- especially if -- the majority of Americans are more secular, more tolerant of diversity, more hopeful about the power of accountable consensus science to address technical problems, more committed to democracy and equity and diversity and sustainability than the Christianists are.
By the way, I consider it a feature as often as or even more often than a bug of representative democracy that it will respond to these sorts of pressures and weightings (even when they provisionally benefit those whose views I disapprove personally), but it is important to remember these things are in play if one wants to remain sensible of the actual terrain on which one acts in implementing public policy.
Great post! I feel like you could expand your "You didn't leave America, America became you" thesis into a book, because it is a really powerful point that, if it were grasped as explicitly as you are stating it here, would accelerate the work of secular democratization, by an infusion of confidence into the youthful generation that would overturn the sentiment that they are merely lost bystanders in a culture set out to theocratically dominate them....
ReplyDeleteI want to second Jackie on that: the whole paragraph which ended with "You are America. You didn't leave America, America became you." was brilliant.
ReplyDeletePowerful stuff - because it's true!
(At least I hope so - 'confirmation bias' and all that...)
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/065
ReplyDelete--------------------------------------------
BuzzFlash: You wrote a book which we are offering on BuzzFlash.com. . .
It’s called _With God on Our Side: One Man’s War Against
an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military_. . . Why did you write the book?
Michael L. Weinstein: . . . What I found at the Air Force Academy was
nothing short of something that could destroy the republic. An essentially
evangelical, fundamentalist, Christian perspective was being imposed on
those that were not evangelical fundamentalist Christians, in complete and
total disregard of the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. . .
I know that the religious right fundamentalists believe that separation of
church and state is just a myth, like Paul Bunyan or Bigfoot. But. . .
Clause 3, Article 6 [of the U.S. Constitution], basically says we’ll
never have a religion test for any position in the federal government.
But I guess that didn’t mean the Air Force Academy, or the Air Force,
the Marine Corps, Navy, or Army. Indeed, they have prepared Geiger counters
that they hold up to all of their members, up and down the chain of command.
We are not at war at all with Christianity, or even Evangelical Christianity. . .
We are, however, at war with a small subset of Evangelical Christians who
go by the long technical name -- premillennial, dispensational, reconstructionist,
dominionist, evangelical, fundamentalist Christians.
The leaders are well known: Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson,
John Hagee, and the list used to include Ted Haggard, before he had some
career issues. . . .
BuzzFlash: How did you become aware of what’s happening there now?
Michael L. Weinstein: I really have to thank Mel Gibson. When Mel came out. . .
in February of 2004. . . [with "The Passion of the Christ"]. . .
I was contacted by non-evangelical Christian members of the faculty. . .
They wanted to know if I was aware of just how profoundly, how comprehensively,
the Academy as an entity was coming down on the cadets and staff to go see
this movie. . .
For three straight days, the cadets were marched into Mitchell Hall, this huge,
two-acre dining facility, and General Myers was exhorting them, pressuring them,
to go see this thing. . .
[I]t was routine to have brown-bag lunches at the Academy, promoted by flyers
that went out saying, “Do not take this flyer down; this is an officially
sponsored U.S. Air Force Academy activity in conjunction with the
Christian Leadership Ministries.” Case in point: January of 2005 -- and I
know this sounds unbelievable, but I can’t make this stuff up -- a flyer
said: "Today’s luncheon topic: Why we cannot let you have your God while
we have ours. Our other luncheon topics: Dangerous to the followers of
Jesus -- pluralism and secularism." And they go on and on.
The most common joke at the Air Force Academy of 2004 and 2005: "Why do
Jews make the best magicians?" . . . Apparently because Jews have the
magical ability to walk into a red brick building and come out the
smokestack in a puff of smoke. And then on top of everything,
July 12th, 2005, on the front page of the newspaper most reviled
by the Pentagon –- . . . the _New York Times_ –- the number-two ranking
general in the entire chaplains corp of thousands in the U.S. Air Force,
makes the unbelievable statement to the American public and the world,
that it is now the U.S. Air Force’s official policy to reserve its right
to evangelize anyone it determines to be unchurched. Those are your Geiger
counters. If you’re unchurched, we reserve the right to evangelize you. . .
BuzzFlash: On a day-to-day basis, how does this manifest itself?
Michael L. Weinstein: . . . We currently have 737 U.S. military
installations that the Pentagon acknowledges. It’s actually closer
to a thousand military installations scattered around the
globe -- in 132 countries. On every one of those military installations, we
have something called the Officers' Christian Fellowship, for the officers,
and for the enlisted folks, the Christian Military Fellowship.
They have a three-part goal that they are completely unabashed about –-
it’s right on their website -– a goal they view as much higher than following
the oath they have sworn, to support, defend, protect and preserve the
Constitution. Their goals are, A, they want to see a spiritually transformed
U.S. military; B, with ambassadors for Christ in uniform; and C, empowered
by the Holy Spirit. . .
BuzzFlash: Clearly, this could not happen without approval from the hierarchy
in the Pentagon.
Michael L. Weinstein: Actually, it’s happening top-down, I think. And it’s
been going on for quite awhile. We think it started in 1972 when the draft ended.
The theory for having a draft was that we were pulling from what we now call
blue and red states, conscripting people into the military. Of course, a
lot of them were pissed off coming in, and when you’re pissed off, even a
spoonful of sugar doesn’t make the Jesus go down. But since we ended the draft,
going to the full volunteer force in 1972, now we’re pulling mostly from
what we call red states, where there’s a lot of this blending of a virulent
form of dominionist Christianity –- essentially predatory Christianity -– with patriotism.
Then, in 1994, with the Gingrich revolution taking over, two years into the
Clinton presidency, the politics of polarization really reared its ugly head.
Either you’re with us or you don’t really deserve to be an American.
Then, after 9/11, with this complete idiot in the White House, this whole thing
went into overdrive. My wife and I have had right-wing talk-show hosts indicate
that we’re an embarrassment to the state we live in, New Mexico, and probably
don’t even deserve to be Americans.
Do you know that in this country in 1970, we only had ten mega-Evangelical churches,
meaning those with 2,000 or more members? But after 9/11, a new mega-Evangelical
church has opened up in our country every 48 hours.
That is their right. That’s fine. But when they engage the machinery of the state
and the people in the government, that’s when we have a terrible, hideous problem.
And this is coming right down from the Oval Office, up and down the chain of
command. And let’s remember, at the Pentagon, we actually have regulations that
prohibit military members from even pushing Tupperware, Mary Kay cosmetics, or Amway,
for fear of what the Draconian spectre of command influence could force a
subordinate to do.
BuzzFlash: They do allow for an atmosphere in which anyone who is not Evangelical
is intimidated.
Michael L. Weinstein: The Air Force is saying: Here’s our policy. If we have a
religion test, of course, it does violate man’s law, which is just the Constitution,
which is clearly subordinated to the higher law of our recognized version of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. But if we determine you’re unchurched, and that’s our determination,
we do in fact reserve the right to evangelize you.
BuzzFlash: . . . Your family has served for three generations. Your
children are following in your footsteps in terms of military careers
and military college training. And yet you’re saying
that right-wing talk-show hosts attack you as unpatriotic?
Michael L. Weinstein: Yes. In fact, Rush Limbaugh, who I would say is a complete
coward, attacked me a couple months ago as being a pacifist, and an aider and
abetter to al Qaeda, which I thought was amazing. Of course, he hasn’t spent
one second in the military. I don’t know how many exemptions he got. And between
Rove and Cheney, they got eleven exemptions, so they never served one second
in the military, either.
BuzzFlash: I believe Rush Limbaugh got out of serving in Vietnam by having a
doctor certify that he had anal cysts.
Michael L. Weinstein: Exactly -- that complete and total coward. . .
BuzzFlash: But someone like Rush Limbaugh says you’re unpatriotic because you’re
trying to uphold the Constitution.
Michael L. Weinstein: Exactly. This is not a Christian-Jewish issue at all.
This is a dominionist Christian versus the Constitution issue.
We have a social contract in our society. In America, if you’re angry at your
neighbor next door, you’re not allowed to pick up your fellow citizen and crush
their head in. We have laws that are all derived from our U.S. Constitution.
When you look at the Bill of Rights, which was passed in December of 1791,
it was not at all created for the convenience of the majority. Quite to the
contrary –- it was created to prevent the tyranny of the majority over the
minority –- an amazing social experiment in America. . .
Average Americans, docile and supine, need to get off their
asses and realize that this is happening. We have
to take our country back, which means simply following our Constitution
of 200 years -- and Constitutional U.S. Supreme Court case law.
BuzzFlash: . . . [T]here really hasn’t been a lot of mainstream coverage
about this. . . Why do you think the story is pretty much uncovered by the
mainsteam media?
Michael L. Weinstein: . . . We have the illusion of democracy in America.
What we really have is an auction. . . [T]he dominionist Christians. . .
[are] raising money among their 12.6 percent of the American public. . .
It’s 36 to 38 million people. . .
Anyone who’s ever been in the military knows it’s a very
Spartan environment – very Spartan. Many of the Constitutional rights of our sailors,
soldiers, marines and airmen, noble and honorable as they are, are deliberately
truncated and limited so that we can preserve and protect the concept of good order
and discipline, which is necessary to have a lethally effective military.
Our U.S. military is technologically the most lethal organization ever created
by humankind. And that’s necessary so that they can protect the full panoply of
Constitutional rights for the rest of us. When you’re in that Draconian system,
up and down, there’s this command structure, and there’s this formidable specter
of command influence. If you’re being told by your superiors that the fastest
way in their eyes you can go from zero to hero is to accept their dominionist
Biblical world view, it’s very hard to say no. And it was George Orwell who said,
when you face universal defeat, speaking the truth itself can be a revolutionary
act. We just don’t teach our young sailors to be revolutionaries.
BuzzFlash: Here's a quotation from your foundation: “The United States is a nation
rooted in respect for religious pluralism, a cherished principle that springs
from our democratic ideals. As the United States becomes increasingly religiously
diverse, respect for minority beliefs takes on even greater importance in a
nation’s ability to withstand assaults on our freedom launched by religious
totalitarians.” End of quote from your brochure. Is that the mission of the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation?
Michael L. Weinstein: Yes. Our mission is really two-fold. It’s educate, and also
litigate. . .
Some other organizations out there -– the Anti-Defamation League, the ACLU, the
Southern Poverty Law Center, Americans United –- they’re all good organizations. . .
[but i]f somebody calls the Foundation, they get me live, then, and there. . .
[A]t a lot of these organizations, you cannot get through. It took me a year
to get through to one of them. . . We move very quickly. We get to the media quickly. . .
BuzzFlash: Just the other day you went out on short notice to meet a veteran who
says that he was denied Kosher food. He was then cut off from prescriptions.
He was told that he didn’t need them because his Orthodox faith should take
care of his disease. Your book focuses mostly on the Air Force Academy, but according
to this veteran, it’s even impacting veterans’ health care.
Michael L. Weinstein: The book focuses on the Air Force Academy because that’s where
we found the liver spot that turned out to be malignant for the entire body. We, at
that time, did not know that as we pulled the string of the sweater, the whole
sweater would come off. It covers the entire hierarchy of the U.S. Air Force,
Marine Corps, Navy, Army, and the Veterans’ Administration.
David Miller is a very courageous veteran. We’ve been approached by many, but only
one so far has had the guts to come forward publically. Imagine being evangelized
when you’re hooked up. You’re in terrible chronic angina heart pain and with
kidney stones. Repeatedly you’re being evangelized by the VA chaplain.
BuzzFlash: This was in Iowa?
Michael L. Weinstein: In Iowa City at the VA Hospital, when he had told them, and
filled out the paperwork, and made it clear to them repeatedly, he did not want
them in there. At one point, he had to scream for the nurses to get the chaplain
out of there. Ultimately when he complains, the hospital management says,
you know, you just haven’t been strenuous enough in your complaints. What?
You’re supposed to bring Tony Soprano in?
Well, let me tell you something. It’ll be strenuous enough now, because we’re
going to file a federal lawsuit. At the end of the day, they told him they were
not going to give him pain meds because they decided that they found five
new stones in his body, four on the left and one on the right. They looked
too small to be really causing him this pain.
By the way, he’s a 100% disabled vet, and he’s had kidney stones for 27 years
that are directly attributable to his honorable service in the U.S. Navy.
They scarcely looked at him and said, “Well, you’re a religious Jew. We suggest
you go home and pray and meditate.” So I guess it’s, "take two Jewish prayers
and call me in the morning.". . .
Anyone who reads this, please consider going to
http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org.
Every dollar you give us is probably worth 15,000 on the other side.
And there’s talk now of a second book, with the prospective title,
_Taking God to Court_. But our current book, _With God on Our Side,
One Man’s War Against an Evangelical Coup in America’s Military_ is in Border’s,
Barnes & Noble, Amazon. It’s certainly available there at BuzzFlash.
> Michael L. Weinstein: The Air Force is saying: Here’s our policy. . .
ReplyDelete> [I]f we determine you’re unchurched, . . . we do in fact reserve the
> right to evangelize you.
For a somewhat moderating view, see this guy's YouTube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=gaymilitaryman&view=videos
(particularly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKmo1L3oBO0 )
On the other hand, this guy did finally get kicked out
of the Air Force a few months ago for putting up these
videos in the first place (see "Administrative Discharge
Board" parts 1 and 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k5BRdApCXg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1JH5zpyto )