Meanwhile, over in the world of science and evolution, Coyne has gotten published his article: SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND SOCIETY: THE PROBLEM OF EVOLUTION IN AMERICA

ABSTRACT
American resistance to accepting evolution is uniquely high among First World countries. This is due largely to the extreme religiosity of the U.S., which is much higher than that of comparably advanced nations, and to the resistance of many religious people to the facts and implications of evolution. The prevalence of religious belief in the U.S. suggests that outreach by scientists alone will not have a huge effect in increasing the acceptance of evolution, nor will the strategy of trying to convince the faithful that evolution is compatible with their religion. Since creationism is a symptom of religion, another strategy to promote evolution involves loosening the grip of faith on America. This is easier said than done, for recent sociological surveys show that religion is highly correlated with the dysfunctionality of a society, and various measures of societal health show that the U.S. is one of the most socially dysfunctional First World countries. Widespread acceptance of evolution in America, then, may have to await profound social change.

Some have raised questions of whether this might hurt the nature of the journal itself:

Coyne on religion and evolution in Evolution

An interesting dilemma in some ways, played out in other topics too.

I do agree with Coyne that the hyper-religious nature of America is a stumbling block to accepting sound science.

The latest paper from the NORC looking at GSS data was put out a few days ago:

Belief in God strongest in US and Catholic countries, surveys find

Maybe I’ll write more on this later, but for now just let me say that I am sure, positive, that the religious nature of Americans is the central axis around which our other political/social issues are discussed.