In the lead up to Christmas, Gallop conducted a poll of people that asked various questions regarding the importance of religious belief. So what did they discover and how does it compare to previous similar polls, is religion in decline?
Highlights
- Religion is important to 72% in U.S., including 51% “very important“
- Record-low 46% in U.S. say religion can solve all or most problems
- 78% think religion is losing its influence on American life
The key discovery here is that this is yet another data point on a far bigger story – the long-term decline of religion in the US.
On-going Decline
Back in 1952 when they first asked these questions the numbers where a lot higher. The following illustrates what has been happening between then and now …
General Perception
When they asked if people think that religious influence is increasing or decreasing, the perception that people now express is that it is decreasing. The following chart illustrates how that has also changed over the years …
Record-Low Percentage Think Religion Can Answer Today’s Problems
When faced with the problems we now grapple with, how many sincerely believe that religion has the answer?
A decreasing number do, here is their chart for that …
It is not an Isolated trend
Other polls tell a similar story …
- waning church attendance
- declining self-identification with a particular religion
Why would a record low number of people think religion has an answer?
Prior to 2016 there was a downwards trend, but it then took an even sharper downwards direction. The vocal support by the religious right has enabled an incompetent deceitful corrupt and quite obnoxious individual to reside within the White House. Trump himself is not the issue, instead the problem that exists are all those gullible idiots who supported him, and still do, not for rational or justifiable reasons, but because he conned them into thinking that he was part of their religious tribe, hence they happily tossed all their values under the bus.
Many others can clearly see this, and so the best argument against the claim that religion can answer today’s problems is the blindly obvious observation that it is religion, or to be a tad more specific, the religious right, that has caused many of today’s problems.