As full-time pastors become a thing of the past, more and more seminary grads are taking on secular jobs to supplement their incomes.
Is Evangelical Morality Still Acceptable in America?
But it’s hard to ignore the implication that the only truly tolerable form of religion in the U.S. is a private one that comfortably aligns with the country’s changing mores, which is why Rauch warns churches to change their values before it is too late.
But it’s hard to ignore the implication that the only truly tolerable form of religion in the U.S. is a private one that comfortably aligns with the country’s changing mores, which is why Rauch warns churches to change their values before it is too late.
A Big Win for the Prayer Lobby
To understand why the case’s backers were so cock-a-hoop, you must first know something about the long game being played by the religious right. The goal is to get back to a “soft” establishment of religion in America — that is, a system in which formal guarantees of religious freedom and the official separation of church and state remain in place, but one religion is informally or implicitly acknowledged as the “approved” religion of the majority and a legitimate basis for public policy.
The Christian Penumbra
Consider, as a case study, the data on divorce. Earlier this year, a pair of demographers released a study showing that regions with heavy populations of conservative Protestants had higher-than-average divorce rates, even when controlling for poverty and race.
.. But the lukewarmly religious are a different matter. What Stokes calls “nominal” conservative Protestants, who attend church less than twice a month, have higher divorce rates even than the nonreligious.