Brad Alles

As we continue to examine why the culture has changed to a post-Christian one, an understanding of the “rise of the Nones” may help us.

As stated in the last blog, Pew Forum polls have seen a drop in those professing Christianity and a growth in those professing to be atheists, agnostics, or holding no religious affiliation.  In the last 40 years, Christians are down from 88% of Americans to 70% of Americans.   Conversely, the Nones went up from 7% to 23% of the American population.  As the Nones grow in number and in influence, the culture changes.

R.R. Reno, in an article called “Religion and Public Life in America” (Imprimis, April, 2013), stated that the Nones are the most ideologically committed group of white Americans today.  (According to Reno, Evangelical Protestants are second.)  The Nones make up the largest group in the Democratic Party and among Democratic leaning voters—24%.  And according to the author, they comprise the biggest threat to religious liberty today.

The Nones are the most numerous and most powerful constituency of one of the country’s major political parties, and they view religion as the enemy.  Historically, religion was not viewed this way in America.  From the 1860’s to the 1960’s, the wealthiest, most educated, and most powerful people in America were loyal to Christianity.  That is not the case any longer.

The Nones have no God, but they have their own ethics: opposition to oppression, ignorance, and prejudice.  Christianity stands in the way of abortion, gay rights, fetal tissue research, physician-assisted suicide, and the like.  And that is why they are hostile to Christianity.  It stands in the way of a better America.