The president is "uncomfortable" running on one of Democrats' biggest issues, one governor said, while others said the party needs to empower other messengers on abortion.
If I’m remembering correctly, “unaffiliated” is either among the fastest or the fastest growing denomination. The phenomenon has been called things like “the rise of the nones.”
The strong politicalization of US Christianity is usually pointed to as one of the drivers. Since the 1970s, when the federal government wanted Christian universities to accept black students or risk losing their funding, American Christians have steadily increased both their political affiliation with the anti-integration Republican Party (Reagan played a big role there). Prior to that, even groups like the Southern Baptist Convention came out with a statement in support of Roe because it expanded women’s rights. The Catholics were always anti-abortion (but also more likely to be pro-social justice and immigrant friendly), but it was the pivot by the evangelical industry leaders who ran those universities that made it into what it is today.
Since the majority of Americans disagree with the radical right stance on social issues, there’s naturally going to be an exit as Christianity becomes more and more associated with far right politics. There’s also a positive feedback loop in which the far right politicians seek to curry favor with evangelicals (without whom they cannot win) by moving ever further to the right, and there’s a far right in the Catholic Church as well (although they were better aligned with JP2 and Ratzinger).
I view the near constant string of losses post-Roe that the gop has been dealing with as a positive development, and that goes along with things like falling church attendance. However, the moves to ignore or overthrow democracy because they can’t win the votes is what’s ultimately going to determine where we go as a country.
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If I’m remembering correctly, “unaffiliated” is either among the fastest or the fastest growing denomination. The phenomenon has been called things like “the rise of the nones.”
The strong politicalization of US Christianity is usually pointed to as one of the drivers. Since the 1970s, when the federal government wanted Christian universities to accept black students or risk losing their funding, American Christians have steadily increased both their political affiliation with the anti-integration Republican Party (Reagan played a big role there). Prior to that, even groups like the Southern Baptist Convention came out with a statement in support of Roe because it expanded women’s rights. The Catholics were always anti-abortion (but also more likely to be pro-social justice and immigrant friendly), but it was the pivot by the evangelical industry leaders who ran those universities that made it into what it is today.
Since the majority of Americans disagree with the radical right stance on social issues, there’s naturally going to be an exit as Christianity becomes more and more associated with far right politics. There’s also a positive feedback loop in which the far right politicians seek to curry favor with evangelicals (without whom they cannot win) by moving ever further to the right, and there’s a far right in the Catholic Church as well (although they were better aligned with JP2 and Ratzinger).
I view the near constant string of losses post-Roe that the gop has been dealing with as a positive development, and that goes along with things like falling church attendance. However, the moves to ignore or overthrow democracy because they can’t win the votes is what’s ultimately going to determine where we go as a country.
Henry Cuellar.