Studies and surveys continue to be issued that monitor the rapid shift in American society from moral conservatism and Christian religiosity to fluidity (a phenomenon in which religion is neither stable nor firm) and irreligious.

Although this phenomenon has become common in all parts of the world - especially in the West - it seems more acute in countries where religion has always permeated its identity since the nation's formation.

In the twentieth century, the West witnessed major tremors that almost rocked many constants and moral values, especially after the end of World War II, which left painful questions about the feasibility of civilization and the meaning of life.

While the survivors of the genocide in Europe were preoccupied with reconstruction, thousands of young people in America were raising the banner of rebellion and forming "hippie" groups that rejected religion and civilization.

However, America quickly regained its religious identity, as society did not accept the nihilistic rebellious movements, and many institutions of power and the media played a role in limiting their spread, while the Protestant churches took the initiative.

In parallel with the "sexual revolution" that reached its climax in the sixties, the Alliance of Protestant Evangelical Churches was establishing a major movement under the name of the "moral majority" led by Rev. Jerry Falwell, which succeeded in reviving family values ​​again, and became a difficult figure in all the election campaigns of presidents and members of Congress.

However, this reality has changed a lot in recent years. After supporters of the "moral majority" roamed the streets in the eighties and nineties of the last century, raising banners denouncing sex outside marriage, mass marches of gays and transgender people are now filling the streets of America today, without arousing the usual condemnation. in the previous generation.

Among the manifestations of this change is the US President Joe Biden's administration standing firmly behind social changes that challenge Christian constants, such as the tweet that Biden published last March stating that "transgender people were created in the image of God," which was followed by his issuance last December. The "Respect for Marriage" law, which obliges society to respect same-sex marriage and not just legalize it.

These positions would not have been dared by any US president 20 years ago, but Biden himself was not in favor of them when he was a member of Congress in the nineties, and if they had occurred at that time, they would have sparked a wave of protest and popular rejection, but society itself has changed now.

Biden signs the same-sex marriage respect law, amid warm applause from members of his administration (Reuters)

Break up and split

In late October 2021, the University of Hartford for Religion Research in the United States released a report entitled "20 Years of Collective Change", which is the largest survey conducted in the United States of religious groups.

In this study, the researchers sought to track trends in the American religious scene since 2000, and their study included more than 15,000 religious groups belonging to about 80 denominations.

Among the most important results of the study, the researchers predicted that 30% of religious groups in the United States will not survive in the next twenty years.

Last week, The Atlantic magazine published a joint article by Wendy Cage, Professor of Sociology at Brandeis University, and Ilan Babchuk, Vice President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. Offered for sale due to the absence of worshipers until it became sold more than houses.

The two religious writers also cite the book Robert D. Putnam and David E. Campbell published in 2010 entitled "American Grace ... How Religion Divides Us and Unites Us?", in which it was stated that American society lost much of its social bonds by abandoning places of worship. In previous generations, the family found New friends as soon as she moved to a new home through acquaintance circles in the nearest house of worship, and if someone fell ill, his religious colleagues quickly joined hands to care for him and pray for him, but these habits have become rare today.

In addition to the social bonds that religious affiliation builds, religion gives meaning to life, answers existential questions, and motivates its followers to participate in building a more just, kind, and loving society, the authors say.

In their article - titled "American Religion Is Not Dead Yet" - the two authors urge the restoration of this role for religion in a society that has become "more individualistic, more divided, less hopeful, and less confident than it was in previous decades," regardless of the most important role. For faith, which is the farmer in the afterlife.

Two and a half years ago, Wendy Cage wrote another article about "the rise of priests", and at that time she was very optimistic with the increase in the activity of the clergy at the height of the Corona virus invasion, as religion then played its traditional role in spreading hope and restoring the meaning of life, but this activity quickly receded with the decline. The epidemic, and optimism turned into its opposite, as appears from the author's recently published article.

A church in Massachusetts distributes food to the needy during the (European) Corona pandemic

Despair and suicide

Two days ago, the Australian Mercator website published an article by writer Michael Cook entitled "Bring back that old religion to me...Did religion protect Americans from despair?", in which he said that the millennial generation is the first generation in the history of the United States in which Christians will be a minority, in 2070 it will be Less than a third of Americans are Christian, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

The writer also cites a recent study by the National Office for Economic Research of the University of Cambridge in Massachusetts, which found that the deterioration of religiosity in society is not only bad, but is literally "deadly", as the lack of a sense of meaning was a major cause of the increase in deaths from alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide. This is the result, according to the study, of a decline in religious practice.

The writer calls on all secular theorists to wait before applauding the decline of religious manifestations in the public space in the United States, stressing that attending places of worship protects the weak from the devastating consequences of social isolation, alienation, lack of meaning, and even death.

Trump receives blessings from some clerics who support him during his rule (Reuters)

community identity

The previous warnings cannot be considered an exaggeration, as the change taking place in the structure of American society worries observers from all walks of life.

Although the United States was established since its inception on a secular constitutional basis, the religious presence of the Protestant faith was rooted in the American identity throughout its history. It started almost at the beginning of the new millennium, and it accelerated over the course of two decades, to recently drop the percentage of believers to less than 50% for the first time in the country's history.

And in September 2020, a study published in the journal “Foreign Affairs” confirmed the enormous size and speed of this change, and said that between 1981 and 2007 the United States was one of the most religious countries in the world, then it was suddenly classified as one of the most religious countries. away from religion.

The same study indicated - according to researcher Ronald Englehart - that religiosity was declining during that period in the 49 countries that he chose from around the world to analyze changes in their societies, but the sudden collapse with such surprising speed in an integral part of the components of the identity of the most powerful country in the world is something worth stopping. .

For example, secularism has been an integral part of French identity since the success of the revolution in the 18th century, and the decline of religiosity among French society has been increasing since then, as is the case in the rest of Western countries, so it does not seem surprising that more than 80% of French people prefer banning Religious performances in public places, according to a study published by the Brookings Institution in February 2020, but secular segments in the United States have always cherished their Protestant background as an important component of their national identity.

American identity was culturally linked to the supremacy of white Protestantism, and the country did not get rid of the phenomenon of slavery except with a fierce civil war between supporters and opponents, and racial discrimination against blacks remained entrenched in laws until the sixties of the twentieth century, and its effects still cast a shadow on public life until today, but it has moved at least From the arena of bragging to the category of criminalization, as for today's young generations voluntarily abandoning their religious affiliation, it raises difficult questions about what remains of the identity of Americans.

American researcher Shadi Hamed says in an article he published in the Atlantic magazine in April 2021 that the followers of the vigilance ideology, who represent the far liberal left, have reconfigured religious concepts and Christian rituals and used them to implement their irreligious ideology. .

On the other hand, the conservative and right-wing Republican followers do not seem to adhere to their religious identity as their ancestors used to do. Although former President Donald Trump attracted the religious audience in his speech as a conservative Republican, of course, the majority of his supporters from the extreme right were raising national, ethnic and patriotic banners more than being Christian.

And with the increasing division between the two wings, the Christian religion is no longer an inclusive element of the American diaspora as it was before, and in the absence of a new religious awakening - as researcher Hamid says - Americans may have nothing left but to fall into the trap of civil war again, just as the Europeans fell into the horrors of two world wars. Before resorting to the plan of reunification and the formation of the European Union.

In an article published by the "Wisdom of the Crowds" website in September 2020, the American writer Murtada Hussein questions the feasibility of atheistic visions to re-tame man. Although these dreams were haunted by many noble atheists in the past, there are possibilities for a more ominous reality. What prevents the irreligious left - as the author wonders - from persecuting their opponents with the same tools of religious extremists, especially since irreligion is originally devoid of religious controls, such as mercy and recognition of human weakness?