>
>
> Gail Brock wrote:
> >
> > The Conservative Bible(
> http://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project) certainly uses
> that principle. This, incidentally, indicates to me that for at least a
> segment of the right wing, religion justifies politics rather than being an
> inspiration for them.
>
> That seems to me to be highly probable. Of course, one thing religion
> does (regardless of whether it is a cause or an effect of politics) is
> to bring people physically together on the same day at the same time
> week after week, and to organize the rest of their week around that and
> related facts. This material reality gives to the 'majority' opinion in
> the group a stronger impact on the opinions and attitudes of the
> remainder of the group. I suspec this was an important factor in the
> evolution of the social perspective of fundamentalism and evangelicalism
> over the las6 50 years.
>
A related factor in the past couple decades has been the increasing political sorting people engage in with their church. Relative to the postwar era, liberals are more likely to attend a liberal congregation (or, of course, none at all) and conservatives a conservative congregation; this works within as well as among denominations (or at least Catholics.) Part of this is that neighborhoods have been sorted in this manner as well; the other part that people are willing to drive further for a consonant church. Increasing irreligion makes the overall pool more conservative, which may be a big driver of fundamentalism.