Jonathan V. Last

A wave of de-churching, secularization, unlike anything in American history. 40 million people have basically abandoned the church. Now, we're talking Christianity since this is, you know, it's obviously our predominant religion. You saw, just in a period of 14 years, you saw a 15 percentage point drop in the number of people saying they were Christian. And where did they go?

A wave of de-churching, secularization, unlike anything in American history. 40 million people have basically abandoned the church. Now, we're talking Christianity since this is, you know, it's obviously our predominant religion. You saw, just in a period of 14 years, you saw a 15 percentage point drop in the number of people saying they were Christian. And where did they go?

They became so-called nuns, N-O-N-E-S, people with no religion. And far from making society less turbulent... as you know, all the indicators went south on things like, you know, loneliness, anxiety, depression, lack of social connectedness, enemy. Worse than that, we saw the rise of extreme political polarization, hyper-partisanship, which looks like a kind of substitute religion.

They became so-called nuns, N-O-N-E-S, people with no religion. And far from making society less turbulent... as you know, all the indicators went south on things like, you know, loneliness, anxiety, depression, lack of social connectedness, enemy. Worse than that, we saw the rise of extreme political polarization, hyper-partisanship, which looks like a kind of substitute religion.

They became so-called nuns, N-O-N-E-S, people with no religion. And far from making society less turbulent... as you know, all the indicators went south on things like, you know, loneliness, anxiety, depression, lack of social connectedness, enemy. Worse than that, we saw the rise of extreme political polarization, hyper-partisanship, which looks like a kind of substitute religion.

People start defining themselves, you know, when they used to devote their lives to Christ, now they're devoting themselves to being the Republican who hates Democrats or the Democrat who hates Republicans. So you get kind of the infection of politics with religious zeal. And then you get the infection of Christianity with politics, especially the white evangelical church.

People start defining themselves, you know, when they used to devote their lives to Christ, now they're devoting themselves to being the Republican who hates Democrats or the Democrat who hates Republicans. So you get kind of the infection of politics with religious zeal. And then you get the infection of Christianity with politics, especially the white evangelical church.

People start defining themselves, you know, when they used to devote their lives to Christ, now they're devoting themselves to being the Republican who hates Democrats or the Democrat who hates Republicans. So you get kind of the infection of politics with religious zeal. And then you get the infection of Christianity with politics, especially the white evangelical church.

Basically, this is overstating a bit, but not hugely. The white evangelical church effectively merges with the Republican Party and then effectively merges with the MAGA movement in the Republican Party.

Basically, this is overstating a bit, but not hugely. The white evangelical church effectively merges with the Republican Party and then effectively merges with the MAGA movement in the Republican Party.

Basically, this is overstating a bit, but not hugely. The white evangelical church effectively merges with the Republican Party and then effectively merges with the MAGA movement in the Republican Party.

And that means that, you know, what used to be a church that stood for Christian witness and behave in a Christlike way becomes much more like behave in a Maga-like way, which is not very Christlike. So through all of those things, Christianity loses what the founders counted it on it to be able to do.

And that means that, you know, what used to be a church that stood for Christian witness and behave in a Christlike way becomes much more like behave in a Maga-like way, which is not very Christlike. So through all of those things, Christianity loses what the founders counted it on it to be able to do.

And that means that, you know, what used to be a church that stood for Christian witness and behave in a Christlike way becomes much more like behave in a Maga-like way, which is not very Christlike. So through all of those things, Christianity loses what the founders counted it on it to be able to do.

which is to provide this sense of social connectiveness, collective worship, a sense of where our values and meaning come from in life. You can't get that from politics. I'm not the first person to say it. You've heard it many times. But you can't get meaning in life out of politics. It's not what politics is for.

which is to provide this sense of social connectiveness, collective worship, a sense of where our values and meaning come from in life. You can't get that from politics. I'm not the first person to say it. You've heard it many times. But you can't get meaning in life out of politics. It's not what politics is for.

which is to provide this sense of social connectiveness, collective worship, a sense of where our values and meaning come from in life. You can't get that from politics. I'm not the first person to say it. You've heard it many times. But you can't get meaning in life out of politics. It's not what politics is for.

So boiling it all down, the claim in my book is that America is becoming ungovernable in large part, significant part, because Christianity has failed. And I have to care about that, even though I'm not Christian.

So boiling it all down, the claim in my book is that America is becoming ungovernable in large part, significant part, because Christianity has failed. And I have to care about that, even though I'm not Christian.

So boiling it all down, the claim in my book is that America is becoming ungovernable in large part, significant part, because Christianity has failed. And I have to care about that, even though I'm not Christian.