Trump the Religious Trend

[rug]

By Ken Briggs | Jan. 5, 2017

Six handpicked religious figures, most from the religious right, will beseech the heavens on behalf of Donald Trump’s presidency on Inauguration day. The covey of six represents a narrow spectrum of the nation’s diversity: it includes New York’s Cardinal, Billy Graham’s Muslim averse son, a noted rabbi, Florida televangelist, Hispanic Christian leader and an African American bishop. Trump himself doesn’t belong to any of those traditions though most share his politics.

Donald Trump is religiously detached. In current parlance, he will enter the White House as a “none,” placing him in a rapidly growing number of Americans who don’t belong to a house of worship or subscribe to a particular creed.

He’d be in trendy company. The ranks of the “unchurched,” or “nones” as they’re known among social scientists, are swelling. Younger Americans in refraining from claiming any religious identity at an accelerating clip, now nearly 4 in 10., according to the Public Religion Research Institute. They include atheists, agnostics and those who keep religious beliefs private. Their total number of adult nones have soared in the past 12 years, from 14 percent in 2004 to 25 percent this year. In the last five years alone, the proportion of nones has jumped from 1 in 5 Americans to 1 in 4. The surge shows no sign of diminishing as 39 percent of young people check the none option in the latest PRRI poll.

Trump’s inclusion therefore places him in the nation’s fastest growing “religious” category which is viewed nervously by religious leaders who see losses in membership. Organized religion is being bypassed as never since the end of World War II when more than 90 percent of Americans said they were church members (the rate is now below 70), especially by young people. High rates of religious belonging have long been cited as proof that America is an exceptionally religious nation. That evidence appears to be eroding fast. Trump’s resemblance to nones may increase that momentum.

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/trump-religious-trend

[DetlefK]

1. Trump is no religious trend.

The steady increase in the "non-religious" population-segment is driven by young people. Trump is a fossil stuck in his materialistic ways of money and power.

And just as Trump tried to get the support of the Evangelicals by paying lip-service to Christianity, the Evangelicals paid lip-service to his lip-service because they needed an official reason why this cynical, manipulating, money-grabbing, hateful philanderer deserves their support.

1. The Evangelicals have adopted Trump as one of their own, to boost their own stature.
2. The Evangelicals are more than willing to throw religion out of the window for political coin.

[Angry Dragon]

2. #2 is so correct