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April 19, 2021

The rise of the nones and politics as the new religion

The rise of the "Nones" in America doesn't mean a decline in belief, per this from the Atlantic:
"(W)hat was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief."
That said, there is no "god-shaped hole." There IS, rather, a "god-belief-shaped hole." The idea of a "god-shaped hole" is Augustinian bullshit.

The "nones" may indeed, per the SJW division of liberals (who are NOT leftists) may act in ways the second link states. But, with people acting like there is one, that may happen.

On the right, as the Religious Right had made the church politics in a way that the Black church really had not (and, in some ways, was forced to), with tied with the rise of Trumpism. So, they're already prepared for that.

What this will mean for the future? SJWs versus a more secularized version of the Religious Right, or the Religious White? A (non-lethal, we hope?) version of the Thirty Years War?
 
What the Atlantic really misses is that politics and religion in America both smack too much of tribalism in many cases, and that the Nones are just bringing a liberal tribalism to the political table. 

It also misses, per this great Politico piece about political activism in the Gilded Age, that politics as ersatz religion ain't necessarily new.

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