A central tenet of right-wing politics in the United States at the moment is the idea that Christians — generally but not exclusively meaning White evangelical Protestants — are embattled. This is a central aspect of Donald Trump’s rhetoric (and sales pitch) in this election cycle, as it was in 2016 and 2020. America is turning away from God, the argument goes, and this sits at the root of our nation’s problems. ...
But there’s another important part of that new PRRI data. While most of those who now identify as unaffiliated after growing up in a religious tradition say their reason for abandoning their religion was that they stopped believing its teachings, nearly half said that the reason was their childhood religion’s hostility to gay and lesbian people. In 2016, only 3 in 10 identified that reason.
