[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

But why take up arms now? Religion has been at the heart of much worse fascism than the W. administration. And we notice its power diminishing. The Pew organization regularly surveys people about religion in their lives and we see the same trends in Europe happening here, albeit about 20 years later.

Quote:

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.

I found the OP to be an interesting springboard for discussion.

While overall religious affiliations of Americans may be going down, a survey which reveals that three-in-four adults are affiliated with a particular religion does not feel like diminished power to me. As a matter of fact, the percentage of all US adults who hold fundamentalist/evangelical beliefs is rising. In other words, Americans who do continue to belong to a religious denomination are now more likely to be “born again,” "true believer" types.

For example, 41% of all Americans believe the Bible is totally accurate. 32% think they must tell their faith to others. And 27% believe Satan is real. Asking people if they consider themselves to be evangelicals produces a comparatively large number: 38% of the population accepts that label. More

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

But to assume it is the religious extremes that are controlling politics may be an overstatement.

Or it may not. I looked up the stats on religious affiliations of Tea Partiers with interesting results. A recent Pew Survey found:

White evangelical Protestants are roughly five times more likely to agree with the Tea Party movement than to disagree with it, Pew found. American Jews, meanwhile, are nearly three times as likely to disagree with the movement than agree with it.

Tea Party supporters are "much more likely than registered voters as a whole to say that their religion is the most important factor in determining their opinions on ... social issues" like abortion and same-sex marriage, according to the Pew analysis.

"They draw disproportionate support from the ranks of white evangelical Protestants," the analysis said of the Tea Party.
Tea Party supporters comprised 41% of the electorate in November, previous Pew polling found, with the overwhelming majority backing Republican candidates, contributing to the GOP's House takeover.

The Pew surveys, conducted from November 2010 through this month, found that white evangelicals are the most pro-Tea Party religious demographic in the country. Forty-four percent of white evangelicals agree with the movement, while 8 percent disagree, though roughly half have no opinion or have not heard of the movement.

Link