Religion and politics: A writer talks about her new hot-button beat
The proclamations. The apparent contradictions. A prevalence that seems not to align with surveys. Religion now pops up in politics, and in daily life, in some surprising ways – especially where Christianity is concerned. At the Monitor, we’re bolstering our coverage. A writer at the center of that tells how.
Recent surveys show ongoing decline for religion in the United States. Yet this week’s presidential inauguration included three invocations, three benedictions, three Bibles, a hymn piano solo, and a pledge to “not forget our God. Can’t do that,” President Donald Trump appeared to ad-lib.
That disconnect between trend lines on a graph and what people say matters in their lives interests Sophie Hills, now the Monitor’s faith and religion writer.
“You have surveys showing that religion is declining in America. ... But I was surprised at how often religion came up unprompted when I was interviewing voters during the Republican primary,” she said in a recording session for our “Why We Wrote This” podcast before the swearing-in.
“Certainly, churches are shrinking. But I think people are very much still interested in exploring whether there may be a higher meaning,” she adds. Assumptions are shifting, too – younger people, for example, are questioning the long-accepted view that women are more likely to be religious than men.
Even among those claiming no religious affiliation, a new label is emerging. Elon Musk, seated just behind the new president at the inauguration ceremony, now refers to himself as a “cultural Christian.” That term merits probing, too.
Episode transcript
Sophie Hills: … at the same time you have surveys showing that religion is declining in America, and that’s often measured by church attendance or religious affiliation. But I was surprised at how often religion came up unprompted when I was interviewing voters during the Republican primary.
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Gail Chaddock: In 1966, Time magazine published what became its most iconic cover. No photos. Black background. Big red letters: “Is God Dead?” Attention value, high. Timing, not so great. Because soon after, terms like religious right, Christian conservatism, moral majority, also moved into headlines, even tipping presidential elections. Suddenly, faith seemed very relevant in politics, and still does.
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Chaddock: This is “Why We Wrote This.” I’m this week’s guest host, Gail Chaddock. We’re talking today with Sophie Hills, who just stepped into a new role as the Monitor’s faith and religion writer, focused on the intersection of religion and politics, culture, and ideas.
Sophie, welcome back to this podcast, and congratulations on your new assignment.
Sophie Hills: Thank you, Gail.
Chaddock: You produced a very interesting story last week with the Monitor’s graphics editor, Jacob Turcotte, titled “America’s Changing Pews: Who Shows Up at Church on Sunday?” Now, one of the conclusions of your data could be something like the Time magazine cover, only not quite as alarmist: a gradual drop in attendance for many religions across all age groups, especially among the youngest. But you found some surprises in this data. Could you talk us through some of that?
Hills: Yeah, there’s been something interesting among Gen Z. It’s been an accepted truth, at least since the 1950s, that women are more likely to be religious than men. And that’s true in the U.S. and around the world. But in the last five years or so, the gender gap among younger people is shrinking. We’re now at the point, according to several surveys, that Gen Z and Millennial men and women are equally religious.
Chaddock: How do you go about trying to explain that result?
Hills: One of the conversations I had is with a sociologist named Katie Gaddini, who herself was once Evangelical, and she wrote a book about why single Evangelical women leave the church. And her take has to do with what she calls “a culture of masculinity,” particularly within white Evangelicalism, and that to some women especially, as they reach the point where others in their circles might say they should be getting married or this is the time to have kids, and if they don’t decide to do those things, that can be one thing that pushes them away from the church.
And the political scientist I talked to, Ryan Burge, he referenced that about a decade ago, there was a “more masculine” Christianity that popped up. That message seems to have been successful in reaching a certain subset of young men. But according to some of these scholars, it’s a little bit repellent to some young women.
Chaddock: I was struck recently when Mark Zuckerberg announced changes in how Meta is going to deal with misinformation and so forth. And he said almost in a throwaway comment that more masculinity is needed in business. I think the last few decades, masculinity and toxic masculinity are somehow related. And it would appear that this is being challenged.
Now there’s often a new lexicon to learn on a new beat. You introduced a term for me in the first story you wrote. The headline was “Elon Musk now calls himself a ‘cultural Christian.’ What does that mean?” You mentioned Richard Dawkins, a leading atheist in Britain, who’s also adopted the term “cultural Christian.” What does cultural Christian mean, and how did you figure it out?
Hills: Just out the front, I’ll say I did not speak to Elon Musk or Richard Dawkins directly. But we also can watch the interviews where they described themselves as cultural Christians. In Richard Dawkins’ case, he talked about valuing a Judeo-Christian culture in the UK. He says that he loves hymns and cathedrals. But then he very quickly said he doesn’t believe a single word of the faith. And in that same interview, he said that he’s uncomfortable with the rise of Islam in the UK, and sees Christianity as a bulwark.
With Mr. Musk, in the past he said he does not believe in a higher power. He, in this interview, didn’t dive very deeply into personal spiritual beliefs. But he did say that he thinks that Christian beliefs result in the greatest happiness. He suggested that the decline of religion is part of what’s driving dropping birth rates, which seems to be a concern of his, and something that he posts about on X fairly often.
And again, I think that these two men who are obviously very public figures, I think their motives differ from someone who doesn’t have an audience. The people I spoke to, it was really just about their personal decision, versus how it might be perceived or what effect it might have on others.
Chaddock: And no government contracts involved.
Hills: Not that I’m aware of.
It was interesting finding people for this piece because, you know, people have called themselves cultural Jews, cultural Catholics. But I’d never met anybody who described themselves as a cultural Christian. My assumption going into this was it was probably going to be someone I wasn’t going to find in a church. So I turned to Google. I found an essay somebody had written on a website they just maintain for their own writing, and we had a Zoom call. And one person leads to another. So it was really interesting to talk to a range of people, some who currently attend church, some who don’t.
Chaddock: One of the terms that comes up in the discussions of cultural Christians is, you know, what is a NONE?
Hills: Mm hmm.
Chaddock: What does that mean? N-O-N-E.
Hills: Well, first of all, hard to resist puns when you’re writing a religion story about the NONES.
Chaddock: Yes.
Hills: But yes, the spelling is N-O-N-E-S. There are three subcategories within the NONES category: people who identify as nothing in particular, people who are atheist, people who are agnostic. Which, right away, is a pretty broad category if you have someone who’s atheist and does not believe in God, and someone who’s agnostic who most likely does believe in God to some degree.
Chaddock: Well, it’s certainly a growing category. All the people that are dropping out of church attendance, or affiliation with a religion, are landing in this very large category.
Hills: Yes. It’s growing faster than any individual religious affiliation.
Chaddock: Let me segue a little bit to your previous life. The last time we spoke, you were talking about following President Biden around at a very critical weekend in his life, in between the debate that was so ruinous to his hopes for another term and his decision to pull out. You have a keen sense of what it means to follow politics. How do you handle the increasing use of religious symbols in political campaigns? For example, you can currently go online and purchase what they’re calling a Trump Bible for $1,000, signed by the president. There are hats that say “Make America Pray Again.”
Hills: I think it’s interesting because at the same time you have surveys showing that religion is declining in America, and that’s often measured by church attendance or religious affiliation. But I was surprised at how often religion came up unprompted when I was interviewing voters during the Republican primary. This was post the assassination attempt on Donald Trump in the summer. I was interviewing someone in Las Vegas during early voting. And this man very clearly, you know, studied the Bible and was able to reference things. And he was talking about all the ways that he sees Trump following paths similar to the paths of various prophets in the Bible. And that was really moving to this man. It clearly made this election feel very important to him in perhaps a different way.
Chaddock: One of the Bibles that is for sale is the “The Day God Intervened” edition Bible, which has July 13th, 2024, on the title. Look up that Bible on the website, and look at all of the comments. You know. People who feel that this is a prophetic moment in American history, and others who think it’s a blaspheming moment in American history. Both appear to be equally fervent in their thoughts.
Where are the directions you are most interested in reporting?
Hills: Well, President-elect Trump has appointed, I mean, we’ll see how confirmations go, but so far, his cabinet appointments are very religiously diverse. And I’m just interested in seeing how that takes shape. When there are politicians who do choose to very openly talk about their faith, I would love to take that opportunity to really understand how it might affect how they view their work.
On the flip side, I’m very interested in the conclusion that religion is declining. Certainly, churches are shrinking. But I think people are very much still interested in exploring whether there may be a higher meaning, or whether they have an inner life that they’re not thinking about. And so I’m really looking forward to doing some more stories on the ways that faith and religion and spirituality may be developing in less conventional ways.
Chaddock: What interests you most about covering religion?
Hills: I love learning about people. We can look at a survey and see people broken down into categories, but not surprisingly, when you talk to any one individual, their answers often spill out over the edges of those categories, because it’s such a personal and ever-evolving thing, the way that someone thinks about their inner life.
Chaddock: When you talk to people about issues like religion, do you ever talk about your own views or your own background or what The Christian Science Monitor means?
Hills: Of course I want to be honest with someone and not pretend like I just simply don’t have views on anything at all. But the more my personal views become part of the conversation, I think the less someone might feel like I’m approaching a story from as neutral a place as I can, given my own views. So I think there’s kind of a fine balance, but it is nice that in religion reporting, I think there’s a little bit more room. There are so many kind of principles and values that are common across religions. Caring for your neighbor, for example. That kind of common ground, I think, can open a really nice door in an interview.
Chaddock: Here’s my personal opinion about you in this new beat, Sophie. Look at what you did that weekend with Joe Biden. I’ve really appreciated the fairness of what you did. So I think that combination of empathy, insight, imagination in finding sources, and scrupulous fairness is a very excellent beginning, and look forward to having you back when you’ve plunged a bit deeper into the waters.
Hills: That’s really kind. And I look forward, yeah, to talking more with more stories under my belt.
Chaddock: And thanks to our listeners. You can find more, including our show notes, with a link to the stories we discussed in this podcast, at CSMonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Gail Chaddock, edited and produced by Clay Collins, Jingnan Peng, and Mackenzie Farkus. Sound engineers [were] Alyssa Britton and Tim Malone, with original music by Noel Flatt. Produced by The Christian Science Monitor, copyright 2025.
