{"id":1399,"date":"2013-06-04T08:25:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T08:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/polls-on-religious-influence-say-more-about-the-media-than-religion.html"},"modified":"2013-06-04T08:25:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T08:25:00","slug":"polls-on-religious-influence-say-more-about-the-media-than-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/polls-on-religious-influence-say-more-about-the-media-than-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Polls on ‘Religious Influence’ Say More About The Media Than Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

For over half a century, Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think the influence of religion is increasing or decreasing in the U.S., posing the intriguing question of what the results actually signify.\u00a0<\/span>For starters, it\u2019s worth bearing in mind that Western civilization is grounded in the belief that once upon a time, God was in his heaven and people went to church regularly. So at any given time, more Americans are likely to think the influence of religion is in decline than the other way around.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
That said, what accounts for the rather striking ups and downs in the chart? In its\u00a0latest release<\/a>, Gallup emphasizes that these do not reflect changes in personal religiosity \u2014 and I\u2019m inclined to agree, up to a point. Here\u2019s the story I\u2019d tell about the people\u2019s perception of religion\u2019s influence.<\/span><\/div>\n
The decline from 1958 through 1972 has to do with the perceived changes in cultural norms associated with \u201cthe Sixties.\u201d Call it the \u201csex, drugs and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll\u201d effect. The 1970s suggested push-back, or at least a range of religious responses to the changes, from New Age communalism to increased activity of evangelicals in the public square. The election of Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter in 1976 \u2014 what\u00a0Time\u00a0<\/em>called<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Year of the Evangelical \u2014 pumped up the popular sense that the influence of religion was on the rise.<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over half a century, Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think the influence of religion is increasing or decreasing in the U.S., posing the intriguing question of what the results actually signify.\u00a0For starters, it\u2019s worth bearing in mind that Western civilization is grounded in the belief that once upon a time, God was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPolls on 'Religious Influence' Say More About The Media Than Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For over half a century, Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think the influence of religion is increasing or decreasing in the U.S., posing the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/polls-on-religious-influence-say-more-about-the-media-than-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Polls on 'Religious Influence' Say More About The Media Than Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For over half a century, Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think the influence of religion is increasing or decreasing in the U.S., posing the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2013\/06\/polls-on-religious-influence-say-more-about-the-media-than-religion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-04T08:25:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. 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