The US president’s grudge match with the pope underlines how religion really functions in American politics

I’m not a particularly religious person, even though everyone tells me how cool believing in God is now. Every so often, we get a new trend piece about how rad and chill Christianity has become. All the skateboarders and chads are churchmaxxing. Only atheists wear skinny jeans any more. Christopher Hitchens would totally get mogged by Pat Robertson. Personally, I don’t buy it. Influencers like Logan Paul and IShowSpeed aren’t going on Twitch to tell their viewers to tithe 10% of their earnings to the Lord. They’re encouraging them to buy cases and cases of Prime Hydration Drink and watch WrestleMania.

In my research on the topic, I found this article from the Independent this year that claims that gen Z is, like, totally down with Christ and can’t wait to chug Mountain Dew with their local pastor in a musty basement. No sooner had I clicked the link than I found an editor’s note that the poll that supported the claim was found to be fraudulent.

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