Everything else being equal, the more religious the individual in the U.S. today, the higher the probability that the individual identifies with or leans toward the Republican party. I called this the “R and R rule” in my 2012 book on religion, found the phenomenon alive and well in my 2014 review of Gallup data, and now, nine years later, Gallup’s data confirm that this religiosity gap is more evident than ever.
Americans’ political identity is a powerful correlate of a wide range of Americans’ attitudes and behaviors, including, in particular, a wide range of attitudes about hot-button political and social issues. And we know that political identity is related to views of the national economy, views of the nation’s institutions, happiness, perceptions of the nation’s most important problems, and a variety of other measures. It is thus not surprising that political identity would also be related to religion.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself 👏
Of course. Sects like The Religious Society of Friends and the UUs are definitely brainwashing and oppressing people. That’s not at all an overgeneralization based on your experiences with the strictly hierarchical and imperialist forms of religion that are most dominant in the culture.
I’m not taking any school of thought that encourages magical thinking seriously.
It’s all brain poison, maybe your brain poison is less harmful but it’s still brain poison.
I’m not religious. I just don’t hate all religion because some of them are harmful.
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So you made a sweeping generalization, and I came up with some counterexamples, and you think insulting me is an effective response? Wow, your skill at analysis and argument is literally indescribable.
This is a very interesting phenomenon that I wrote about already in the context or relation to the rise of the Third Reich. I am extremely concerned that this same pattern is repeating itself again in the United States. What appears to be a perfect storm of social, religious, economic, and political circumstances are brewing here that mirror the hostile insurrection of Nazism in Germany.
See this comment below where I discussed the similarities: https://lemmy.world/comment/2264852
Do remember that there was a lot of sympathy for fascism in America, but the fascists never got in charge, not even when it looked like Germany might get the upper hand in the early days of the war, despite the 1940 election.
Fascist were in charge in Italy in the early 1920s through the early 1940s, mostly driven by ultranationalism. Seems very much like something we see on the Republican side of the aisle in the US today.
I understand that. I’m just saying there’s hope. America has been here before and the fascists didn’t win.
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Fascism doesn’t have a lot of support in the United States outside of those who would benefit from it. That’s always been the case. Any chance it had to entrench itself died on January 6th, 2021. That was their attempt and high water mark and it failed dramatically. They made a mistake and broadcasted what they were doing publicly. Going forward you can expect a slow swing to the left for at least a generation and perhaps longer.
As for religion, it’s decline was long overdue. What started with Gen X has grown generation by generation. What is needed is an organization that replaces the social space to fill that need religious people want, but without the indoctrination and hate.
I always hear American evangelicals cry about being shown “hate” and being “persecuted” because of their faith. But, honestly, I think very few people hate or would have any interest in persecuting Christians or any other faith group.
However, evangelicals have gotten themselves so thoroughly into bed with the Republican Party that it’s often hard for others to see the difference. And a lot of people do hate the Republican Party. At this point, what evangelicals feel is hate by proxy.
The solution seems simple: Get out of bed with the Republican Party. Spread the gospel of spiritual hope instead of a political gospel of hate.
The issue is that there just often aren’t non political churches to go to in many areas anymore.
In the seattle area, I think the only new church that has gotten built in the last 30 years has been prosperity gospel while the ones that serve the poor have been in the area for a hundred years or operate on weekends out of a high school gymnasium.
The story of Christianity on the west coast is one of land deeds.
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