Trouble brewing for Republican Conservatives?
But new data suggests that whatever pull evangelicals have in American politics, it’s declining pretty significantly.
The Public Religion Research Institute released a detailed study Thursday on Americans’ religious affiliations. Perhaps the most striking finding is on White evangelical Christians.
While this group made up 23 percent of the population in 2006 — shortly after “values voters” were analyzed to have delivered George W. Bush his reelection — that number is now down to 14.5 percent, according to the data.
Americans’ religiosity overall has declined significantly in recent years, but even against that backdrop, the decline is sizable. Over this span, White evangelical Christians’ share of the population has declined by 37 percent, compared with 8 percent for White nonevangelical Protestants and 27 percent for White Catholics. The decline has also very notably continued over the past three years, despite a slight rebound in these other groups. The result: There are now more White nonevangelical Christians than evangelical ones for the first time since at least 2006….
Parts of this graph surprised me. I was not aware that the percent of people who identify as white mainline Protestant has been increasing in recent years, and I was not aware of the very sharp drop in evangelical voters. I would be interested in an analysis of those trends.
This report seems to fly in the face of others I’ve read.
I take this with a great deal of skepticism.
Nowhere else have I read that mainline Protestant churches were having an upswing.
Indeed ,one of the largest ,the Methodist Church ,is undergoing a schism.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (Pro Virus–NC) said that Bidem’s vaccination efforts are a ruse to go door to door to take people’s guns and bibles.
Young Master Cawthorn sounds like a good candidate for the next Stupid GOP Pol o’th’week.
Yes a bunch of Republican Governors ,including well known virus spreaders SC Governor Henry “the bootlicker” McMaster (who refused to mandate mask wearing when 4000 a day were getting infected in S.C.) And Missouri Gov. Parsons ,who seems much more intent on protecting virus spreaders so they can continue to infect others , are pandering to the Right Wing nutjobs with this line.
Why would anyone but a total political animal oppose someone knocking on door to educate people about vaccinations ?
Hell people knock on my door all the time.Salespeople ,religious groups ,even political candidates.Whats the big deal?You don’t like it?Dont answer the door or close it if you don’t like the message.
I don’t know how effective this will be.However, it seems to me that we should be trying anything to get people vaccinated .
I did a lot of door-knocking in my youth; and (like most marketing, soliciting and evangelizing) it’s a matter of percentages.
Anyone who’s done GOTV knows you won’t get everyone who hasn’t yet voted to the polls, nor whether the person you’re addressing has (in fact) voted while the polling-workers were updating their lists. But just adding one more voter (for your side, unless it’s non-partisan) out of ten or twenty is worth it.
Increasing the already-vaccinated percentage of your target “unchurched” population by just 3% or 5% or even 1% can sometimes significantly reduce your local spread — especially if that one person comes into contact with many others, e.g. in health care, education or retail sales.
And convenience sometimes makes the difference, e.g. for busy or disabled people, or those unsure about their own eligibility for vaccination.
And being offered a choice on the spot and in the moment is sometimes all that’s needed to get vaccine into a lukewarm procrastinator.
If evangelism is going to reverse its trend, it has to improve its moral legitimacy. That is hard to do when you align with Trump. While conservatives might not like it or even play games like “what about”, ultimately, issues like global warming, civil rights and income distribution are moral issues.
Yes…..
Trump and Moral do not mix…..
Andrea Junker
@Strandjunker
He pays nothing in taxes.
He drives a $325,000 Ferrari.
He lives in a $10.5 million mansion.
He got $4.4 million in PPP loans.
He closed the doors of his megachurch to those in need after a hurricane.
What would Jesus think of “pastor” Joel Osteen?