If religious conservatives thought that eight years of George Bush would help them gain strength, they are going to be disappointed. Not only did his administration not manage to pass any of the big social conservative issues — no abortion ban or amendment against gay marriage — they didn’t even do so well on more minor issues like trying to keep Terry Schiavo breathing.
But what has got to really hurt is that the number of people who are actively religious has declined. When Bush became president, 86% considered themselves to be Christians. Eight years later, the number has dropped to 76%. And the number of people who consider America to be a “Christian nation” fell from 69% to 62%. Worst of all, the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has nearly doubled from 8 to 15 percent.
These numbers are even more significant when you consider that the rising number of Hispanic immigrants has increased the number of Roman Catholics, which means that the percentage of Christians in the rest of the population has decreased even more.
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“These numbers are even more significant when you consider that the rising number of Hispanic immigrants has increased the number of Roman Catholics, which means that the percentage of Christians in the rest of the population has decreased even more.”
I don’t think you meant to suggest that Roman Catholics are not Christians. A more accurate term would have been Protestants or Evangelicals.
No not at all. Re-read what I said. I pointed out that Hispanic immigrants are increasing the number of Roman Catholics, which adds to the number of Christians. So if the total number of Christians (including Catholics) is still decreasing overall, that means that the Christian ranks are losing lots of other (non-Hispanic immigrant) people.
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[…] The problem is that politics is played by pushing hot buttons to get your base riled up. But religion is based on attaining understanding (what some religions call enlightenment). What kind of religion do you have when you are obsessed solely with hot button items? A religion that not only loses elections, but also loses their own believers. […]