>It's only compared to today that I was saying that religion played
>an inordinately bigger role in determining one's life chances.
Criticism of Roger Finke and Rodney Stark has to be better than the above, in that they are comparing the USA today not with early Puritan settlements but with _Revolutionary_ America (their book's title is _The Churching of America, 1776-1990_). In other words, we are talking about Tom Paine's America (the late 18th century -- the period of revolts and revolutions!), not William Bradford's America....
Yoshie