The End of an Era?

Good Riddance I say

Religion has no place in American politics...Despite what Katherine Harris says, Seperation of Church and State is NOT a lie. It is explained thoroughly by our founding fathers.

Just listen to the quotes of Thomas Jefferson, a huge critic of theocracy, and James Madison and George Washington. None of them believed Christianity had any specific place in the government of this land.

The truth is, the Religious Right whom Jim Wallis says is dead was an ignorant, bigoted, hateful bunch which made Christianity look bad (sort of like how terrorists mar Islam, but to a lesser extent.)

With the defeat of the Republican majority in 2006, some elected figures of the Religious Right went into retirement; such as Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Representatives Jim Ryun of Kansas, John Hostettler and Mike Sodrel of Indiana, Melissa Hart and Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania, Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota and the notorious Katherine Harris in Florida, whose joke of a Senate campaign went down in flames. Representatives Jim Nussle in Iowa and Bob Beapurez in Colorado both lost gubernatorial campaigns they should've done better in. Ohio Gubernatorial candidate and the state's leading preacher Ken Blackwell lost his election by over 20%. In referendums, the Religious Right were surprisingly defeated in some areas; Missouri voted to fund stem-cell research, South Dakota rejected an all out ban on abortion, and Arizona became the first state to reject a ban on gay marriage.

The days of endless debate in Congress over banning gay marriage, restricting abortion, and forcing the Bible into public schools are over. What is the future? Wallis says this;

Evangelicals — especially the new generation of pastors and young people — are deserting the Religious Right in droves. The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper, engaging issues like poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/AIDS, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur and the ethics of the war in Iraq. Catholics are returning to their social teaching; mainline Protestants are asserting their faith more aggressively; a new generation of young black and Latino pastors are putting the focus on social justice; a Jewish renewal movement and more moderate Islam are also growing; and a whole new denomination has emerged, which might be called the "spiritual but not religious."

What Wallis is noticing is correct. There is less of a social conservative attitude among young people. The younger generation, my age and younger, are more supportive of gay rights and do not believe in the literal explanation of the Bible. However, most of all, I've noticed the younger crowd does not believe in the rigid structure of religion that our parents and grandparents believed in. The younger crowd is more in touch with the spritual, personal relationship with God, rather than a communial relationship.

The younger crowd focuses more on helping others rather than excluding others. It is true that Darfur is a big issue among the young crowd. Less than a year ago, I was still in college and Darfur was something everyone was talking about and everyone knew about it. If our politicians today don't solve the problems in Darfur, we will...unfortunately it would be too late by then. HIV/AIDS is a huge issue for us, because unlike the preceeding generations, we dont see it as a "gay disease" or a "sinful disease," rather an epidemic that has been ignored by our parents.

When considering American politics...the "dead Religious Right" obviously was closely tied to the Republican Party...social conservative and elite. Now, the younger crowd's religion is probably more liberal than conservative...economic fairness has always been a Democratic strength, as has the environment, helping the poor, and pacificism. Could this mean the new religious younger crowd will strengthen the Democratic Party?

If the Republican Party isn't careful, they're going to find themselves on the wrong side of the populace once my generations enters ours 30's.