Secularizing

 FINALLY, INEVITABLY, the scales have tilted. For the first time in American history, survey says, people who are not religious, are not formally associated with any established religion, outnumber those who are.  The inexorable advance of science and secularism proceeds apace. Its been a long time coming. We've known for awhile that the world isn't flat, that humans were not fashioned in less than a day from mud, that the stars are much more than mere pin pricks in the dome of heaven through which radiant brilliance pours, and our progress has been so great that we have even begun to suspect that a wafer and a bit of wine is not only an inadequate snack, but, at best, symbolic cannibalism, as George Washington believed. (An Episcopalian on paper, he refused communion).  The latest "Word of God" seems not to be the Christian bible, not if we think about it, thinking about it, or the lack thereof, being the Achilles heel of all religious dogma, which thrives best in a thoughtless environment.  Speaking of thoughtless, once upon a time Ronald Reagan said he was afraid to pray in public, but even more afraid not to. Scary guy, that Reagan. Thus began a questionable marriage, in terms of coherence and consistency, of the far right followers of the great communicator and redeemed New Deal Democrat and a hundred million redeemed sinners. Political and economic conservatism and the message of Christ don't mix, only they either don't know it or don't care. But now, as a percentage of the population, the evangelical Christian politically conservative demographic, having become the Trump base, is shrinking, post insurrection, post Trump presidency. One can, after all, tolerate only so much cognitive conflict. The white Christian Republican party is firmly ensconced in a demographic cul de sac, badly in need of an infusion of youth, color, and ideals. But how much effective expansionist outreach into young and minority communities can a political party achieve which identifies transgender gender according to birth certificates and espouses neo-liberal capitalism to people who are going nowhere fast financially, fully aware that most of the money is in the hands of an elite oligarchy reluctant to share? Americans currently under the age of forty, in large numbers, eschew traditional religious dogma and an ethic predicated on a never ending pursuit of personal profit. John Maynard Keynes seventy years ago sensibly asked: how much longer can capitalism, which relies on economic and hence population growth, continue on a planet with finite resources? The political future clearly belongs to those who can provide answers to this and other questions, and the conservative Christian community in 2021 isn't even asking them.