Culture wars and religious faith

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This article was published 09/09/2023 (1107 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Liberals Have Won the Culture War.”

That was the title of an article posted by Ryan Burge, an American political scientist, statistician and Baptist pastor on his blog, Graphs About Religion.

An assistant professor at Eastern Illinois University, Burge is known for his work on religion in the U.S., charting the trends and changes in the religious landscape in that country.

Considering the news out of the U.S. these days about all the states that have passed or proposed laws against abortion, trans people and drag shows, you would be forgiven for thinking Burge is, well, graphically challenged.

But opinions in America about these hot-button topics have moved left since the early 1990s, he maintains. And one of the reasons for that is religion — or its lack.

Burge traces the start of the culture wars in the U.S. to a speech by Pat Buchanan on Aug. 17, 1992.

Buchanan, who had failed in his attempt to secure the Republican nomination to be president, delivered a speech to that party’s convention announcing that America was headed in the wrong direction on things like gay rights and abortion.

“We must take back our cities, and take back our culture, and take back our country,” he said.

His goal, along with that of his supporters — including many on the religious right — was to stop what he saw as a leftward drift in America.

According to Burge, he failed.

“I’ve looked at the data and it’s clear to me that Christian conservatives failed miserably in this endeavor,” he wrote.

“On every single social issue, the average American is more liberal today than they were just two decades ago.”

Burge comes to that conclusion by using the General Social Survey, which charts American opinion on various subjects such as drugs, same-sex marriage and abortion.

For example, in the 1990s only about 20 per cent of Americans supported legalizing marijuana. Today 74 per cent do. When it comes to same-sex marriage, just 12 per cent were in favour in 1988. Today it is 73 per cent. On abortion, 40 per cent of Americans supported making it legal 30 years ago. Today 54 per cent favour it for any reason.

One reason for the change, according to Burge, is that the U.S. “is becoming a heck of a lot less religious” today.

Today in that country, 30 per cent say they are “nones” — people who have no religious affiliation. Since “nones” tend to be more socially liberal, the rise in the size of that group is having an effect on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage.

Added to that is decreasing interest in religion in America. A recent Gallup poll found that membership in a church, mosque, synagogue or other place of worship has fallen to 47 per cent of people in the U.S., down from 70 per cent in 1999.

But it’s not just that American society is becoming less religious. Religious people are changing, too, moving leftward.

“Even religious people are becoming more left-leaning on these types of issues,” he said.

For example, in 2004, just 12 per cent evangelicals were in favour of same-sex marriage. By 2021, 35 per cent of evangelicals felt that way. For evangelicals between the ages of 18-35, that figure was 56 per cent.

“It seems inevitable that a majority of evangelicals will support same-sex marriage in the next two decades,” Burge observed.

Mainline Christian support for same-sex marriage is even higher, at 68 per cent, up from 33 per cent in 2004. There has also been an increase among Catholics from 38 per cent to 66 per cent.

“It’s hard to look at these numbers and not be astonished at how fast opinion has moved on this topic, even among religious groups like evangelicals and Catholics, where the churches’ teachings haven’t moved at all,” he said.

There has also been dramatic movement on marijuana.

“Today, a majority of every major Christian tradition is in favour of legalized weed,” he said.

When it comes to abortion, most religious people agree it should not be illegal in all circumstances, Burge said. This includes 80 per cent of Catholics, 74 per cent of Southern Baptists and 68 per cent of non-denominational evangelicals.

Of course, Burge is writing about America. Canada is at a very different place on these issues. Yet we are hearing some of the same culture-war rhetoric being preached by Canadian religious leaders or advocated by politicians against LGBTTQ+ and trans rights, about abortion and other issues.

But if Burge is right about the U.S., all that preaching and all those laws about LGBTTQ+, trans people and drag queens won’t ultimately mean a thing in his country.

Americans, including many religious Americans, have moved on from traditional views on many social issues — despite what their ministers and leaders say.

faith@freepress.mb.ca

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