Surprising News on the Separation of Church and State Front

Our official Thinking Brain Dog, Cujo359, has achieved fame as a Blog Against Theology blogger, and in so doing, found an interesting statistic:

A question that occurred to me during the most recent Blog Against Theocracy was, I'm sad to admit, just how popular is the idea that church and state should be separated. There have been a few polls related to that subject in the last few years. The most recent and thorough one that I'm aware of is the Pew Foundation's 2008 poll on the relationship between religion and politics in America. I haven't encountered any other poll organization that does as thorough a job of examining this subject, so new results are always interesting. Here's what the Wall Street Journal had to say:

For the first time in more than a decade, a narrow majority of Americans say churches should stay out of politics, according to a poll released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

PewThe results suggest a potentially significant shift among conservative voters in particular. In 2004, 30% of conservatives said the church should stay out of politics while today 50% of conservatives today express that view.

Conservatives are now more in line with moderates and liberals when it comes to their views on mixing religion and politics. “Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared,” Pew reports.

Pew Survey: More Americans Want Religion Out of Politics

Well, that's hopeful. Too bad the rest of his post kinda kills the notion that Americans are finally done being rabid religious morons. But even so, this to me is a hopeful sign: if even conservatives are starting to realize that they should keep church and state happily separated, we might be able to preserve our republic after all.

Cujo's post is excellent overall. Go. Read.