Religion is All About Politics



Predicting how groups will vote is a preoccupation of pundits in the U.S. The interest currently is speculating on  how the growing group called "nones" who claim no religious affiliation will influence future elections.

It was predicted back in about 2010 nones would constitute 25% of voters by 2050. The group is already polling close to 25% now. It has been growing nonstop. The 25% number is a benchmark because it approximates the number of Catholics as well as the number of white evangelicals.

The impact of nones does not match the impact of other groups such as evangelicals because a larger percentage of evangelicals vote than nones. If the number of nones keep growing and evangelicals do not the none influence will rise. Those two trends have been the history of the last few decades.

The future of the two groups depends, of course, on how diverse their respective voting blocks are. Christians do not all vote alike nor do non Christians.

The view that many Christian take is that their version of religion is the ultimate truth. That being the case their religious views should be the law of the land. We have seen a lot of this in anti abortion and anti gay efforts.

Even though politician like to endorsed be religions and religious leaders want their views put into law by successful politics, politics and religion do not mix well. Wise is the politician and preacher who does not take the bate.

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