American life will become more coarse, more brutal, less forgiving, less merciful, and more hateful as people lose faith, if that is indeed, what is happening.
You think things are bad now, they will get worse in time.
The churches have been infiltrated and compromised, including my own Catholic Church, so it is hard to see the churches leading us out of this mess.
If the only thing keeping you from going on a murderous rampage is the belief that a Fairy in the Sky is going to punish you in the afterlife, then your morality is pretty shallow.
Here's the thing, I figured out that Catholicism and religion were all bullshit in my early 20's... and I'm about to hit 57.
I've never murdered anyone, even though thanks to the Army, I'm more than capable.
I don't steal, rob, rape, abuse, mistreat people or do anything like that. I do use bad language (oh my!). I point out when stupid people are being stupid.
The churches used to play an important role in relieving poverty, taking care of the sick, taking care of widows and orphans, but much of that work has been transferred to the government. I think the growth of big government has caused faith to seem less relevant to many people.
And this is a bad thing, why? Hey, here's the thing, the government doesn't deliver services, we can vote them the **** out. We can't vote out God. He's too busy not existing.
Also, the relative prosperity most people in America enjoy has decreased the pressing need that people in desperate straits have for faith in God.
Again, you talk like this is a bad thing. Okay, we kind of get it, the Church is very good at keeping poor people in line by promising them all sorts of goodies in the afterlife so they tolerate the awful in the hear and now, keep quiet and don't try to change anything. This was probably the plan when Constantine decided "What national religion will keep these people in line now that gladiatorial games are boring?"
The thing is, we made thing better WITHOUT God, because God was perfectly fine with slavery and other bad stuff. And after we changed things, then the Churches that were mostly silent said, "Me, too! Me, Too!"
Kind of like we've all kind of collectively decided that Homophobia is bad. (I know, you haven't come around yet) and the Churches are all finally coming along.
Also, there are many distractions: movies, music, TV shows, the internet, crowding out such things as prayer and church attendance.
Yes, all these things are more interesting than watching some pedophile scream at you about God.