Post-Christian America

We're a long way from the day when the United States could reasonably be described as a non-religious nation. But we're getting there. It's sometimes hard to see the forest for the trees, but the longer-term trends are pretty unambiguous. (Which is not to say it's impossible they will someday reverse course.) I suspect that, hand-wringing about arrogance and "fundamentalist atheists" notwithstanding, the exhortations of Richard Dawkins and his ilk have had something to do with it. If nothing else, they provide clear examples of people who think it's perfectly okay to not believe in God, and be proud of it. That's not an insignificant factor. It's most likely a small perturbation on top of more significant long-term cultural trends, but it's there. Newsweek reports the facts: the number of self-identified Christians in the U.S. has fallen by 10 points over the last twenty years, from 86 to 76 percent. ...