“Ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen”

Here’s my guess: you probably side with the side you already sided with before the controversy began. If you sympathize with Democrats, you likely see them as fighting for their constituents. If you sympathize with Republicans, you likely see them as abandoning their jobs and thus their constituents.

Here’s another guess: like most Americans, you probably feel stronger about your partisan views than you did even a few years ago. Here’s one reason political passions in America have become much more intense: our religious passions have become much less so. Consequently, the former are replacing the latter.

The Atlantic recently reported: “As Christianity’s hold, in particular, has weakened, ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen. American faith, it turns out, is as fervent as ever: it’s just that what was once religious belief has now been channeled into political belief” (their italics).

Historian Niall Ferguson agrees: “We are dealing not just with the decay of traditional religion, but far worse, the rise of new fake religions, political religions.” (I disagree that the “rise of new fake religions” is “far worse” than the “decay of traditional religion,” but I understand his point.)

He continues: “One thing that’s very clear from the twentieth century is that when people take their religious feelings and they apply them to political ideologies, terrible things can happen.” He references as examples the Nazis who thought of Hitler as the redeemer of the German nation and those today who treat scientists as if they are infallible.

From Pastor Victor Tafoya: