Is Political Passion Replacing Religious Passion

It's not a new topic but new perspectives on old issues are always helpful. Religions are often about good and evil, saints and sinners. Politics is about friends and enemies. The two approaches do a dance that often is hard to understand.

Currently, the demographic most rapidly leaving organized religion is lower middle class. It used to be regarded as the group Christianity could rely on the carry the ball. What group most enthusiastically joins with evangelicals and votes for Trump? Yes, that group. 

Could it be their political passion as "the left behind", those who have benefited the least from the technological revolution, have become politically super charged and organized religion is no longer their vehicle? While the far left has mostly not been religious it now is also Bernie super charged and does not need the church if it ever did. For the right especially, politics is expressed as religion even though it is not. 

I've heard that in conservative Islamic circles, especially in the Middle East, the thinking is, "Politics and religion are one and the same. What good is Islam if it is not running the government?" To me, this sounds like what I hear from rabid anti abortion operatives. While they use religion to justify their anti abortion activism, if their current religion did not reinforce their views they would shop around for another religious group. Religion is a tool toward an end, not an end.

A similar thing is involved in anti gay marriage. The anti gay prejudice is there in the culture, with or without religion. But, anti gay people need religious cover. Thus they leave the larger institution and spin off into new groups to justify their prejudices. The same thing happened during segregation.

I read often the view that the major denominations had a mellowing effect on political passions. People of divergent political views had to belong to the same denomination because there were so few. If that ever was true it is a truth fading out of site, replaced by juiced up politics.

No doubt we will see religious leaders and pundits say now is the to time practice a more civil kind of politics. Sometimes churches will step forward to provide civil forums to discuss divergent views. I, myself, don't see Christianity leading politics again. Instead, politics will lead Christianity.