by Jayla Ward • 4 minutes
There is a wave sweeping across America. Everywhere you look faith is on display.
A few weeks ago, Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll led the Country Music Awards in impromptu worship with over 70,000 people in attendance.
Last month, American Idol hosted an Easter Special, featuring CeCe Winans and Carrie Underwood. They performed songs like “Come Jesus Come,” “In Jesus Name,” and “How Great Thou Art.” One of the most viewed performances of all time includes CeCe Winans and former Idol contestant Roman Collins singing “Goodness of God.”
If you’re watching a game, athletes are openly praying and unashamedly giving glory to God. Coaches like Deion Sanders are inviting chaplains and hosting voluntary prayer times for their players.
Popular podcast host Joe Rogan is reportedly attending church for the first time. In a recent interview with The Heritage Foundation, Tucker Carlson was asked whether he thought America was in a revival.
“We are in the middle of it,” Carlson said. “I see it all around me, everywhere. People who haven’t spent their lives thinking about God are clearly responding to something that they’re hearing.”
First Liberty is also witnessing a national movement unfold, where states are passing laws allowing schools to display the Ten Commandments and other testimonies to America’s religious heritage, such as the nation’s motto, “In God We Trust.”
Faith has always received criticism and backlash from pop culture, politics and the general public. But it’s clear the tide is changing. There‘s a shift happening in the cultural attitude towards faith and religious expression.
Americans are seeing an increase in religious influence the likes of which haven’t been seen in 15 years, according to a recent Gallup poll. In April 2020, Gallup found that 38% of adults believed that religion was increasing in influence, which is double the amount in December 2019 (19%). Within the last four years, the numbers have increased by 20%.
A rise in secularism has been the dominant statistical trend over the past 20 years. Those who identified with “no religion” increased from 5% in 1990 to 30% in 2019. But that appears to be slowing down.
“For decades America’s fastest-growing religious affiliation was no religion at all,” The Economist points out. “Yet for the first time in half a century, the march of secularism has stopped.”
The Economist also notes that this movement is catching fire among young people, most especially Gen Z and men. The percentage of young Americans identifying as Christians has risen from 45% to 51% in just under a year.
Faith in the West is no longer declining. But what changed?
The Ripple Effect of Major Victories at the U.S. Supreme Court
Since 2019, First Liberty has secured several landmark victories at the U.S. Supreme Court that are causing a massive change in religious freedom law.
Our victories in the Bladensburg Peace Cross, Coach Kennedy, Treat Children Fairly and Faithful Carrier cases overturned decades of bad precedent. These wins restored religious liberty protections to millions. Americans today have more freedom to live out and express their faith than they’ve had in 50 years.
Is it a coincidence that at the same time the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the right to religious expression, more people have begun to share their faith publicly? We don’t think so.
Positive changes to the law are having a big cultural impact. Each of these Supreme Court wins is like a pebble thrown into a lake, sending out wave after wave in a ripple effect that’s being felt across the country.
Whether it’s in the workplace, schools, sports, city hall, the halls of Congress or local public parks, Americans are getting the message that prayer and religious expression should not be hidden. In addition to being legally okay, people everywhere are recognizing that it’s simply good to express our faith in public. That freedom is what America has always been about.
George Washington once said, “Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.” That is exactly what we are seeing today in America: a movement—and quite possibly, a revival—in which more and more Americans are boldly sharing their faith.
The Fight Continues
All of these wins have paved the way for religious freedom to flourish again, but the battle is NOT over. As religious liberty advances, our opponents are increasing their attacks. They’re meeting our wins with more resistance than ever before.
First Liberty is fighting intense legal battles for American families who want to simply raise their children according to their faith:
There are still Americans who are fighting for their constitutional rights in the workplace, schools and the public arena:
There are still houses of worship and ministries whose compassion is being criminalized:
This fight doesn’t start in the court rooms. It starts with YOU. It begins with boldly exercising your right to live out your faith. We are committed to defending your right to do so.
However, we can’t do it alone. Please give to First Liberty, today. Your support helps us fight these cases – and WIN.
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