Earlier this month, at the International Religious Freedom Summit held in Washington, D.C., a leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that protecting religious freedom will build communities and nations. That optimistic message is different from much of what we hear about religion in public discourse. It’s also necessary and grounded in strong evidence.
For years, public discussion of America’s religious decline has rested on a simple assumption: as religious affiliation falls, opposition to religion hardens. The rise of the religious “nones,” the story goes, reflects not just disengagement but an increasingly hostile posture toward religion’s role in public life.
That assumption is incomplete, and in important ways, it is wrong.
Read Full Article »