http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-1017-putnam-religion-20101017,0,6283320.story

"Just as this generation moved to the left on most social issues — above all, homosexuality — many prominent religious leaders moved to the right, using the issue of same-sex marriage to mobilize electoral support for conservative Republicans. In the short run, this tactic worked to increase GOP turnout, but the subsequent backlash undermined sympathy for religion among many young moderates and progressives. Increasingly, young people saw religion as intolerant, hypocritical, judgmental and homophobic. If being religious entailed political conservatism, they concluded, religion was not for them.

Sociologists Michael Hout and Claude Fischer of UC Berkeley were among the first to call attention to the ensuing rise in young "nones," and in our recent book, "American Grace," we have extended their analysis, showing that the association between religion and politics (and especially religion's intolerance of homosexuality) was the single strongest factor in this portentous shift. In religious affinities, as in taste in music and preference for colas, habits formed in early adulthood tend to harden over time. So if more than one-quarter of today's young people are setting off in adult life with no religious identification, compared with about one-20th of previous generations, the prospects for religious observance in the coming decades are substantially diminished."

"Increasingly, young people saw religion as intolerant, hypocritical, judgmental and homophobic." Hardly any wonder people are not flocking to, or staying in, churches!

Many interesting points in this article.

I read an article of someone critical of the religious right's involvement in religion. What they were saying was, the reason the USA had such strong religious institutions was because of the strong separation of Church and State. The author argued that because Europe had such a long history of religion and government being intertwined, religion had become less important. The reason he gave was, people do not like or trust politics or politicians. Thus, when the religions started playing politics, they became politicians and in so doing started losing the trust of their parishioners.

It was one thing that gave me hope when I saw the power of religion increasing.

It seems what he was saying may well turn out to be true!

This makes sense to me. The thing about my situation is that after a lifetime of setting all the things aside that didn't add up for me, it was the country's political climate over the last two years that forced me to finally confront all those issues. Once I did that, everything unraveled very quickly and I spent the better part of two years trying to put it all back together, which is not possible. My briefly converted husband said that he just couldn't figure out why I was so willing to walk through life in a pair of shoes that didn't fit. He just couldn't see what kind of psychological damage it did to me that my whole life I was told I needed to fit those shoes, not to have the shoes fit me. Thanks for posting the article. I will be passing it along to a few people.

You can mix ice cream and manure, but it ruins the ice cream and it doesn't really improve the manure.

I know quite a few people who identify as Christians who don't set foot in church except for weddings and funerals. They don't want to contribute to hatred and hypocrisy and resent being told how to vote. And yet, they are Christians who believe Jesus is Lord.

I have a Jewish friend who did not renew her synagogue membership because she didn't like the position the leadership took on political issues. She's no less Jewish.

Wouldn't it be amazing if people used the vast array of knowledge available on the Internet to learn about all religions and adopt the best parts of each?

Let's mix Christ's commitment to serving the poor with Islam's prohibition on usury and charging interest - no more subprime mortgages and payday loans! If we combine Judaism's focus on lifelong learning with the Wiccan belief that the Earth is sacred, maybe we'll produce the clean-energy scientists the world needs! Can we put all the Mormon missionaries to work spreading the Buddhist message to treat everyone with kindness?

yeah...I can dream...

I can see the mishies peddling for Buddha and working with the poor. Now THAT would accomplish something!

I believe the Mormon Hierarchy does go out of its way to pursue individuals, and is not just assisting church members to keep the commandments, and is not just influencing politics when it comes to moral principles. They judiciously and obsessively spy on their members so they have ammunition to criticize them when they try to return instead of showing true Christian charity, and then let you know that what they did for you they have the right and authority to do. Every time I have gone to Church or come into contact with them, I have realized that they have kept tabs on me and then have a need to point out what they believe I have done wrong: in talks, in the quorums, in the hallways, in stake conference. You even have complete strangers you have never met come up to you and judge you. and then you hear talks from leaders stating that we are not to judge one another, but, of course, the leaders are allowed to do this to you.