Over the years, Gallup has asked Americans whether they “think religion
\nas a whole is increasing its influence on American life or losing its
\ninfluence.” And unlike other Gallup survey questions having to do with
\nbelief in God and worship attendance, the results have varied a good
\ndeal. Right now, we’re at one of those points when Americans
\noverwhelmingly say that religion is losing influence–as in
\nthe late 60s and early 90s. <\/p>\n
![\"religion's](\"https:\/\/www.spiritual-politics.org\/religion%27s%20influence.gif\")
The
\nquestion is, what exactly does this graph signify? A case can be made
\nthat, from the late 50s, American society was in fact becoming more
\nsecular–or at least that the public piety of the so-called Eisenhower
\nRevival was in decline. And yet, during this period of alleged waning
\ninfluence, religious forces were powerfully at work, changing American
\nsociety via the civil rights movement.<\/p>\n
So what accounts for the turnaround in 1969-70? Perhaps it was the
\nreturn of the presidency to the Republican Party. At least up until the
\nlate 80s, Americans seemed to consider religious influence on the
\nupswing after the GOP took over the White House. But how to explain its
\nrise under Bill Clinton, and its decline during George Bush’s second
\nterm? <\/p>\n
Possibly, it was the full-fledged emergence of the religious right in
\nnational consciousness that accounts for the 90s, and the general
\ndisaffection from Bush from 2005 on that accounts for the steep decline
\nin the late 2000s. The latest trend appears to have peaked last May.
\nSince then, the proportion of Americans who think the influence of
\nreligion is increasing has risen from 23 percent to 27 percent; the
\nproportion who think it’s declining has fallen from 71 percent to 69
\npercent. This would seem to track the Republican fortunes. <\/p>\n
Here’s my hypothesis. Presidencies are themselves lagging indicators.
\nWhat the overall trend lines track is ideology. When conservatism is in
\nthe ascendant, Americans believe that religion is increasing its
\ninfluence in American life. When liberalism is in the ascendant, it’s
\nthe opposite. And it’s been that way for half a century. <\/p>\n
Over the years, Gallup has asked Americans whether they “think religion as a whole is increasing its influence on American life or losing its influence.” And unlike other Gallup survey questions having to do with belief in God and worship attendance, the results have varied a good deal. Right now, we’re at one of those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n