Secularization Who Do We Trust? Secularism America’s Age Of Faith Changes In Influence Civil Religion

How Do We Know Who To Trust? We used to assume that authorities were right because they tended to say “Cause God said so” Appeals to “divine authority” have lost credibility People don’t go to priests and mullahs now. They go to secular professionals for answers How Do We Know Who To Trust?

Secularism Believe That Jesus Is A Diety? 75% “Religious interpretations of reality and religious orientations have yielded to explanations/justification for human behavior made in scientific and rational terms.” Believe In Hell? 50% Believe In Life After Death? 75% Expositor of Doctrine: CHURCHES SCHOOLS Pray To God? 90% Eventual Outcome: A totally non-religious society? Claim Membership In Religious Org? 90% Nah! Believe In God? 90%

America’s “Age Of Faith” Year % Religious Adherence* 2008 Barack Obama Elected 66% 2000 George Bush Elected 68% 1992 Bill Clinton Elected 70% 1980 Ronald Reagan Elected 62% 1969 Moon Landing 1957 “Leave It To Beaver” On TV 60% 1930 Great Depression 56% 1914 World War I 53% 1861 Civil War 37% 1776 Signing Of Declaration 17% Key to This Theory Is the Idea That America‘s Age Of Faith Has Been Replaced With An Age Of Reason * Various sources including Gallup, Statistical Abstracts, Adherents.Com, Finke and Stark’s Churching Of America

Changes In Influence? Religious Cultural Secularization Secularization Family Family Education Education Media Media Polity Polity Religion Religion Market Market Law Law Housing Housing Leisure Leisure Religious Secularization Institutions Influence Religion Cultural Secularization Religion Is Equal To Other Institutions Religionization Religion Influences Institutions Changes In Influence?

“Loss Of Religious Authority” Organizational Secularizaton Internal Secularization Loss of authority over religious orgs Family Family Institutional Secularization Laicization Loss of authority over other institutions Me Education Education Media Media Polity Polity Religion Market Market Law Law Housing Housing Leisure Leisure Individual Secularization Religious Disinvolvement Loss of authority over individuals and congregants Religionization Religions Maintain Authority Everywhere “Loss Of Religious Authority”

But Is The American Version Of Civil Religion Truly “Secular”? Also called “religion-in-general” and “religion of the republic” Americans share common religious characteristics (beliefs, symbols, sacred places, rituals, holydays, martyrs) and a sense of our nation’s sacredness We’re “one nation under God”, “in God we trust”, we ask that “God Bless America”, our “eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”, and we’re “endowed by God with certain unalienable rights”. We pray to God in moments of crisis, transition, memory, and thanksgiving We celebrate God’s (?) birth and death/resurrection as national holidays. While no American president mentions Christ in his inaugural address, ALL of them mention “God” “The same revolutionary beliefs for which our forbears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.” JFK 1961 But Is The American Version Of Civil Religion Truly “Secular”? Civil Religion