If you're sick of politics and/or religion, read no further and tune in later for the pics!

It has been suggested in comments posted on this blog that “liberals” are attempting to demonize if not persecute “conservative” religionists. This Rolling Stone article from April is worthwhile:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/behind-the-rights-phony-war-on-the-nonexistent-religion-of-secularism-20120425

Elsewhere, conservative religionists are attempting to remove science from public school classrooms and replace it with their fundamentalist beliefs. Here are two relevant stories:

http://www.pfaw.org/issues/religious-liberty/student-of-uncommon-courage-matthew-laclair

http://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/funding-fundamentalism-student-documents-louisiana-voucher-subsidy-for

Finally on this subject – and I promise, no more! (unless pushed) – the latest survey from The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows clearly that Christianity dominates religious life in this country and that even if you include all of the so-called “liberal” denominations it adds up to no more than about 10% of all those who identify as religious. Those who do not identify as affiliated with any religion and who could be but probably aren't secular humanists comprise 16.1% of the adult population.

So on the face of it, people who say liberals are persecuting conservative religionists are, to put it politely, out of their fucking minds.

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports/

Overall, nearly eight-in-ten (78.4%) adults report belonging to various forms of Christianity, about 5% belong to other faiths and almost one-in-six (16.1%) are not affiliated with any particular religion.

Members of Protestant churches now constitute only a slim majority (51.3%) of the overall adult population. But Protestantism in the U.S. is not homogeneous; rather, it is divided into three distinct traditions – evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population and roughly one-half of all Protestants); mainline Protestant churches (18.1% of the adult population and more than one-third of all Protestants); and historically black Protestant churches (6.9% of the overall adult population and slightly less than one-seventh of all Protestants). Protestantism is also comprised of numerous denominational families (e.g., Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal) that fit into one or more of the traditions.

Catholics account for nearly one-quarter (23.9%) of the adult population and roughly three-in-ten American Christians. Other Christian traditions are much smaller. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormon groups account for 1.7% of the adult population, while Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of Orthodox churches each account for slightly less than 1% (0.7% and 0.6%, respectively). A variety of other Christian churches account for an additional 0.3% of the adult population.

Other major faith traditions in the U.S. include Jews (1.7% of the adult population), Buddhists (0.7%), Muslims (0.6%), Hindus (0.4%) and members of other world religions, including Baha’is, Zoroastrians and others (which together account for less than 0.3% of the population). Members of a variety of other faiths, including Unitarians, New Age groups and Native American religions, combine to make up an additional 1.2% of the population. Finally, individuals who are not affiliated with any particular religion make up about one-sixth (16.1%) of the adult population. They thus comprise the fourth largest “religious” tradition in the United States, nearly approximating the number of members of mainline Protestant churches.

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