SolaScriptura
Member
It doesn't look good for "secularism" all the data points to secularization of the US being the result of an exodus of progressive Christians from progressive Christian churches, Evangelicals tend to be stalwart defenders of the faith, are growing in number, and gaining influence in largely neglected political regions.
While there's many uphill battles yet ahead, the main argument I present is that the US is similar to Rome and so Christian exceptionalism will win. To make that argument a few historical tid-bits would be the Edict of Milan which included Christianity into the "religious pluralism" of the Roman state by making it legal. Over the next 100 years Christianity in one of its fiercest phases of Evangelism ever in history, made short work of religious pluralism in Rome. The major reason for this is because Christianity does not really allow room for any other views; even if those views are the same (such as humanism, or pro-life or whatever) without a faith in Christ you're still wrong.
And so Christianity works to convert people and exclude irreligious people from the public life.
The engine of Christianity ended in the Western World (north of South America and parts of Africa) when progressive Christianity began to become a dominant view, transforming a conservative document into a "living" document that was "more of a guideline".
This began around the 1890s but peaked around 1930-1940 which gave rise to the 40s secularist judgments of so-called "Activist judges" which has created an 'apparent' secularism in the US.
Europe had the same wave but it has never had a resurfacing of Evangelism; Evangelism in Germany has in fact just returned to Germany in mass this year - for the first time since the Reformation. Europe's period of secularism may be ending too but it's less important for this examination.
In the US secularism faces a declining percentage of the electorate against a rising percentage of Evangelicals, conservative Christians who seek to restore that exceptionalism that is Christianity.
How long this will take is debatable - since there are figures up until 2000 for Evangelical and religious populations' growth rate. But how it will reveal itself in politics over time, or how its growth will change over time isn't so obvious - it won't be conceivably until 2010 before more data is given on the growth of the Evangelical population in the US.
But, in summary, all trends are pointing to secularism being a blip similar to the period of Roman religious pluralism being a finite thing after Christianity was legalized in Rome.
While there's many uphill battles yet ahead, the main argument I present is that the US is similar to Rome and so Christian exceptionalism will win. To make that argument a few historical tid-bits would be the Edict of Milan which included Christianity into the "religious pluralism" of the Roman state by making it legal. Over the next 100 years Christianity in one of its fiercest phases of Evangelism ever in history, made short work of religious pluralism in Rome. The major reason for this is because Christianity does not really allow room for any other views; even if those views are the same (such as humanism, or pro-life or whatever) without a faith in Christ you're still wrong.
And so Christianity works to convert people and exclude irreligious people from the public life.
The engine of Christianity ended in the Western World (north of South America and parts of Africa) when progressive Christianity began to become a dominant view, transforming a conservative document into a "living" document that was "more of a guideline".
This began around the 1890s but peaked around 1930-1940 which gave rise to the 40s secularist judgments of so-called "Activist judges" which has created an 'apparent' secularism in the US.
Europe had the same wave but it has never had a resurfacing of Evangelism; Evangelism in Germany has in fact just returned to Germany in mass this year - for the first time since the Reformation. Europe's period of secularism may be ending too but it's less important for this examination.
In the US secularism faces a declining percentage of the electorate against a rising percentage of Evangelicals, conservative Christians who seek to restore that exceptionalism that is Christianity.
How long this will take is debatable - since there are figures up until 2000 for Evangelical and religious populations' growth rate. But how it will reveal itself in politics over time, or how its growth will change over time isn't so obvious - it won't be conceivably until 2010 before more data is given on the growth of the Evangelical population in the US.
But, in summary, all trends are pointing to secularism being a blip similar to the period of Roman religious pluralism being a finite thing after Christianity was legalized in Rome.
