TRANSCRIPT
Religious diversity in America continues to increase, resulting in a shrinking Christian population. Not so long ago, the term "religious diversity" used to refer to a smorgasbord of Protestant groups. Not so much today.
Now it means Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and a host of other non-traditional classes, like atheists, humanists, skeptics, naturalists, wiccans and earth worshippers. This has come about, the great melting pot of religious identity, through two main channels: immigration is one. But the other much larger reason is the indifference of Christians about their own beliefs.
The effect, on the ground, of so many varied religious groupings is that formerly held firm religious beliefs start to be called into doubt. As those doubts become concretized, religious adherence fades away. And in the absence of religious conviction, whole worlds change.
For example, in the United States, which every day is becoming less and less religious than in days gone by, only about one third of young adults see Christianity as being fundamental to American identity. Sixty-six percent of senior citizens, however, see Christianity and America wedded together. The less religious diversity there is, the greater the adherence to your childhood faith. And the more religious diversity in a given area, the less adherence to your childhood faith.
Recently released rankings point to this fact. Mississippi is rated at the least religiously diverse state in the United States - 54 percent Baptist. Its constitution forbids an atheist from holding state office. On the other hand, Oregon is the state with most diversity in religion and is ranked near the bottom of states with the least religiosity.
In one way, all this is kind of common sense. The more you hang around people who challenge your beliefs, the more likely you are to lose your beliefs. The more you hang around people who are faithful, the stronger your faith and practice of it usually is.
This is why the political process matters. The aim of those who have instituted policies and laws over the years that have resulted in the weakening of the family has been to lessen the influence of religion in the culture, namely, Christianity.
The weaker a family is — meaning a family which does not hold religion as a major priority such as is often the case with single parents, divorced and remarried, and even to a degree, mixed religious marriage — the more susceptible the children are to being less religious and consequently more easily influenced by a more religiously diverse population.
This is exactly what we have been witnessing for decades now — a downward spiral, a cycle of less religious people enacting laws, which result in weaker families, which raise less religious children who are influenced by as well as influence the culture to be less religious ,which results in less religious people influencing the political process.
In the great marketplace of ideas, philosophy and religion, Christianity in general, and Catholicism specifically have failed to make a compelling argument. Christ has been essentially relegated to the status of an also-ran in the culture, as is evidenced by the culture's rejection of or indifference to almost every Christian precept of morality.
This has happened for the simple reason that Catholics became lukewarm about their faith. While the majority Protestants have really taken it on the chin in the past 20 years and are continuing to shrink, the relatively smaller population of Catholics will also begin to experience an unprecedented downturn in raw numbers.
Already we see this in the demographic of voters who self-identify as Catholic. Eight years ago they comprised 25 percent of the total electorate. Today, it's 22 percent. The shrinking has begun, just a little right now, but in another election cycle or two, we will be less one out of every five, and possibly one out of every six. But every other religion and even non-religion in America will be growing.
What kind of laws will the new majority be creating? What principles will guide their cultural decision-making processes? The clock is ticking, and there is not really much time left before the culture turns from indifferent to hostile. Such is the price of a lack of vigilance.
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