Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Look Left AND Right Before Crossing Off God
Monday, March 26, 2007

Pew has released its quadrennial study of politics, religion, and society in America. Most of the attention has focused on the political findings of the study, namely that Republican self-identification has guttered in recent years, while Democratic self-i.d. has risen. Andrew Sullivan, for instance, sees in the study a rise in social acceptance, of blacks, gays, and guns.

It's a devastating indictment of the Bush-Rove strategy for conservatism and the Republican party. They may have created the most loyally Democratic generation since the New Deal with the under 25s. But check the other findings out. Party identification is now 50 percent Dem and 35 percent GOP. The country is now divided in two over the question of whether military strength is the key to ensuring peace... Since Bush has been president, there has been a sharp decline in the number of Americans favoring "old fashioned values about family and marriage." In the last ten years, opposition to gay marriage has dropped ten points and support has risen ten points. There has also been a striking twelve point increase in support for affirmative action over the past decade - all of it among whites.

While Andrew points out that secularism is rising, particularly among the young, the real story may be the determined commitment of American to hold on to religious values. Pew asks three questions -- "Prayer is an important part of my daily life" (78% yes); "We will all be called before God at Judgment Day to answer for our sins" (79%; more than who are Christians, by the way); "I never doubt the existence of God" (83%). These numbers are stunning and would be rivaled no place else in the world other than the Middle East.

And while the God gap is growing (79% of GOPers answers these questions in the affirmative, compared with 62% of Democrats; two decades the number was equal at roughly 70%), to me the real news is how high these numbers continue to be among Democrats. "I never doubt the existence of God" is hardly the standard of religiosity where I come from. Many of the most faithful people I know spend a lot of time in the realm of doubt. But as I argue here with Bob Wright, while most pundits will conclude from this that GOP voters are still more religious-oriented , the real news is how religious-oriented the so-called secular left continues to be.

Labels: Religion in America

Posted by B Feiler at 8:03 AM
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