Transpositions: American Religion in the 1980s

Abstract

American religious forces and movements have been undergoing significant repositioning for decades. By the middle of the 1980s, however, public awareness of these transpositions has become widespread. The major religious event of the decade has been a transposition of forces, exemplified by the following: (1) secularists are in dissarray, religionists have regrouped; (2) Protestant evangelical-moralism has become aggressive and culture affirming; (3) Roman Catholic leadership has interchanged position with mainline Protestantism with respect to the articulation of a social vision to its constituency and the public; (4) black religionists and Jews have interchanged position with respect to predictable public and partisan stands; (5) civil or public religion has been shifted to conservative and nationalist contexts; and (6) extraordinary religion has acquired an ordinary cast. Implications of these transpositions are appraised for the future.