Losing our religion

Hopefully, this trend will continue!  We are long overdue to shed that metaphysical metaphorical religious straightjacket.  Religion is so ... 19th Century.

5 Signs That America Is Moving Away from Religion


If you look closely there are promising signs that American attitudes are changing in a way that may blunt the impact of religion on politics and culture.


In between bragging about the number of people they've killed and vilifying gay soldiers, the GOP presidential candidates have spent the primaries demonstrating how little they respect the separation of church and state. Michele Bachmann seems to think God is personally invested in her political career. Both she and Rick Perry have ties to Christian Dominionism, a theocratic philosophy that publicly calls for Christian takeover of America's political and civil institutions. (Even Ron Paul, glorified by civil libertarians for his only two good policy stances -- opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and drug prohibition -- sputtered about churches when asked during a debate where he'd send a gravely ill man without health insurance.)


GOP pandering to the Religious Right is just one of those facts of American public life, like climate change denial and Creationism in schools, that leave secular Americans lamenting the decline of the country, and of reason and logic. Organized religion's grasp on the politics and culture of much of Europe has been waning for decades -- why can't we do that here?

But there are signs that American attitudes are changing in ways that may tame religion's power over political life in the future.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, founder of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, tells AlterNet that she thinks what happened in Europe is (slowly) happening here. While questioning religion remains controversial -- Gaylor says the group's work on church and state issues often elicits hate-mail strongly suggesting they move to, you know, Europe -- atheism, skepticism, and agnosticism are becoming more widely accepted.
1. American religious belief is becoming more fractured

2. Non-belief -- and acceptance of non-belief -- on the rise

3. Growing numbers of young people who do not identify as religious

4. Hate group that exploited religion to bash gays hemorrhaging funds
5. Getting married by friends


Click here to read the details.  Hallelujah!