The End of Christian America
Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:22 pm
http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583/output/print
[The rise of the Global South, with its multitude of zealous religious Reformations and Counter-Reformations as whole peoples are moving more rapidly than at any time in human history from rural to urban life, and a worldwide increase in personal freedom are being reflected in this tectonic shift of the pluralization of spirituality within America, the headquarters of Global Capitalism.]"The post-Christian narrative is radically different; it offers spirituality, however defined, without binding authority," he told me. "It is based on an understanding of history that presumes a less tolerant past and a more tolerant future, with the present as an important transitional step." The present, in this sense, is less about the death of God and more about the birth of many gods. The rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans are people more apt to call themselves "spiritual" rather than "religious." (In the new NEWSWEEK Poll, 30 percent describe themselves this way, up from 24 percent in 2005.)
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In Texas, authorities have decided to side with science, not theology, in a dispute over the teaching of evolution. The terrible economic times have not led to an increase in church attendance. In Iowa last Friday, the state Supreme Court ruled against a ban on same-sex marriage, a defeat for religious conservatives.