Secular surge: a new fault line in American politics

Abstract

The secular surge in US politics has been identified by almost every political pundit and academic working in the field, and in truth, there is little in Secular Surge that is not known intuitively or anecdotally by those same people. Where Campbell, Layman, and Green make an enormous contribution to the discipline, however, is in providing a well-researched evidential basis for that intuition. The authors have worked extensively in the field of religion and US politics over decades and have now turned their attention to that fastest growing of demographics: ‘the Nones’, described by the authors as those who choose to identify as having no religion. The authors helpfully disaggregate the group from a meaningless homo-geneity to meaningful specifics through dividing the Nones into Religionists, Non Religionists, Religious Secularists, and Secularists. With Nones accounting for around a quarter of the electorate, this is a timely analysis of this key demographic. Rather than the lazy assumption that Nones have abandoned their religious belief, the authors show that just over half of those self-identifying as Nones either believe in God or a higher power. The claim is that the growth in Nones does not simply represent a decline in religiosity but rather that it also signifies a positive identification as Secularists. The authors’ central argument American society is rapidly secularising and that a distinct, politically engaged Secular Left emerging the Religious Right the four decades. identity new fault line US alienated