Something interesting happened on the last episode of Survivor. A redneck’s anthropomorphic God was mocked to his face. Yes, I am the last surviving Survivor viewer, and it is for moments like this.
Mike, the classic redneck, was grousing about how much work he is doing compared to everyone else, while Lindsey the tattooed Gen-Xer thinks Mike is only aware of the work he does, and doesn’t notice when other tribe members pitch in by collecting firewood and keeping the fire going.
“Did your God come down and do it with his beard?” she asks pointing to the fire.
I loved the addition of “…with his beard.” A nice touch, as if to say, “Where is your God now, you ridiculous twit?”
As it turns out I should not be surprised by the mocking of a redneck’s shallow and stupid version of Christianity on TV or elsewhere. It is the new big thing, as Americans are opting out of religion (particularly Christianity) in droves.
New data from the American Values Atlas shows that while white people continue to be the majority in all but 4 states in the country, white Christians are the minority in a whopping 19 states. And, nationwide, Americans who identify as Protestant are now in the minority for the first time ever, clocking in at a mere 47 percent of Americans and falling.
Growing racial diversity is driving some of the change, but not all of it.
… another major reason religious diversity is outpacing the growth of racial/ethnic diversity is largely due to the explosive growth in non-belief among Americans. One in five Americans now identifies as religiously unaffiliated. In 13 states, the “nones” are the largest religious group. Non-religious people now equal Catholics in number, and their proportion is likely to grow dramatically, as young people are by far the most non-religious group in the country. This isn’t some kind of side effect of their youth, either. As Adam Lee has noted, the millennial generation is becoming less religious as they age.
As a result of this decline conservative Christians are panicking and the hysterical freakout on the right is turning ever more Americans off the Christianity altogether.
The irony is that this panic-based overreach is just making the situation worse for the Christian right. One of the biggest reasons the secularization trend has accelerated in recent years is that young people see the victim complex and the sex policing of the Christian right and it’s turning them off. And they’re not just rejecting conservative Christianity but the entire idea of organized religion altogether. In other words, the past few years have created a self-perpetuating cycle: Christian conservatives, in a panic over changing demographics, start cracking down. In reaction, more people give up on religion. That causes the Christian right to panic more and crack down more. In the end, Christian conservatives are going to hasten their own demise by trying to save themselves. Not that any of us should be crying for them.