|
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
 | ||||||||
 | ||||||||
|
|
||||||||
|
The "God Gulf" at The New York Times
12 November 2003In a bold attempt to coin a new catchphrase, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times writes of the "God gulf" between liberal and conservative Americans. A "red state/blue state divide," he claims, "overlaps an evangelical/secular divide." Citing a study from The Pew Research Center, Kristof claims that the growing number of Americans who believe in God necessarily correlates with the segment who believe Dick Cheney (which increasingly requires faith). Fortunately for liberals, conservatives, and all those in between, it isn't so simple. Kristof -- and Pew -- neglect the large number of Americans who subscribe to conservative evangelical beliefs and liberal politics; the growing social justice movement within conservative Christianity, which defies easy categorization; and, of course, all the libertarian pagans. In a survey skewed toward traditional religion, these folks sound like the Christian right; in their churches, soup kitchens, and covens, though, they're decidedly more eclectic, as Diana L. Eck, author of A New Religious America: How A "Christian Country" Has Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation, reveals in this talk at Harvard.
|
|
