In a thematic echo of yesterday’s post, CJ Werleman of Alternet (using language more blunt that I try to use) sees the right-to-discriminate-against-gays bills in Arizona and numerous other states as the desperate moves of a dwindling Christian right.<\/p>\n
Dwindling Christian Right Turns Into Cornered Animal, Lashes Out at Civil Rights and Democracy<\/a><\/p>\n \nThe Christian Right\u2019s dirty little secret is they are acutely aware that changing demographics are running against them. While they may believe the earth is a mere few thousand years old, they\u2019re not complete idiots. They can read polls, and the data tells them this: millennials are abandoning religious belief. According to a recent Pew survey, one in four Americans born after 1981 hold no religious belief, which is nearly double the national rate of atheism. Other studies confirm this trend, including a recent study by the Public Religion Research Institute showing more than half of non-religious Millennials have abandoned their childhood faith. <\/p>\n With this in mind, the nation\u2019s radical religious fundamentalists see an ever-shrinking window to impose their Bronze Age worldview on the gay, atheist, liberal, immigrant, heathen, and science book-reading masses.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Despite their increasingly minority status, they manage to raise lots of money to win elections for Republicans. Werleman concludes, <\/p>\n \nWhile the Christian Right is becoming the dwindling minority, it remains an existential threat to civil rights, secularism and our democratic values. It’s a threat fueled by a seemingly unlimited supply of campaign finance, and a rabid base that believes it\u2019s fighting for its place in a 21st-century world it can\u2019t reconcile against an ancient book that says gays are an abomination. You know, like shellfish.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Meanwhile, all the usual suspects are issuing press releases (Joe.My.God<\/a> is the best place to follow these) complaining that denying Christians the right to discriminate and marginalize homosexuals is oppressive *to Christians*. They\u2019re the victims here. Of course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a thematic echo of yesterday’s post, CJ Werleman of Alternet (using language more blunt that I try to use) sees the right-to-discriminate-against-gays bills in Arizona and numerous other states as the desperate moves of a dwindling Christian right. Dwindling … Continue reading