Is Politics Filling The God Gap?

Published July 22, 2021 at 7:00 AM PDT

The moon rises behind Zion Church, built in 1881, at the Madison County Historical Society on October 29, 2020 in Winterset, Iowa. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

This rebroadcast originally aired on April 14, 2021.

A recent Gallup poll found that fewer than half of Americans belong to a house of worship. But while Americans might be losing their religion, they are not losing their religious fervor. What’s filling the God gap?

Guests

Shadi Hamid, contributing writer at The Atlantic. Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. Founding editor of Wisdom of Crowds. (@shadihamid)

Casper ter Kuile, co-founder at Sacred Design Lab and Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School. Co-author of “How We Gather” and “Care of Souls,” two reports profiling new forms of social and spiritual connection. (@caspertk)

Joseph Bottum, professor of philosophy and Director of the CLASSICS Institute at Dakota State University. (@JosephBottum)

Also Featured

Kelsey Ogbewe, sophomore at Montgomery College in Maryland; writer and poet who writes about his past experiences with religion and on social justice issues. (@KOgbewe)

More from WBUR

Reading List

Axios: “America is losing its religion” — “The accelerating trend towards a more secular America represents a fundamental change in the national character, one that will have major ramifications for politics and even social cohesion.”

Wisdom of Crowds: “How the Death of Faith Will Hurt the Left” — “In a historical blink of an eye, the United States has gone from being one of the world’s more religious countries to one of the least religious for which data is available.” The Atlantic: “America Without God” —”As Christianity’s hold, in particular, has weakened, ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen. American faith, it turns out, is as fervent as ever; it’s just that what was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.