The notion that religion is an inherently pro-social phenomenon has always been nonsense, despite protestations to the contrary. As religious studies experts emphasize, the category of “religion” encompasses such a broad array of practices, traditions and beliefs that the term itself is notoriously difficult to define. Unfortunately, the de facto Christian supremacy that pervades American society not only makes it difficult to subject extremist Christianity to the level of scrutiny it demands. It also means that, for many Americans, the concept of religion is distorted through a conflation with Christianity itself.

The popular blog Get Religion, which pretends to be objective and disinterested while publishing a slate of authors mostly from white evangelical backgrounds who exhibit pro-evangelical bias, embodies both of these unfortunate tendencies. Last week, Get Religion’s Richard Ostling, a Reformed believer, cited me as the token voice of opposition in a piece that rehashes the demonstrably false claims that the recent rapid secularization of the US population is to blame for polarization, and that churches are an important moderating […]