That’s a question asked by Alan Wolfe on The Guardian’s Comment is Free.  He presents some compelling evidence to prove that the Religious Right is indeed in its waning years.  Granted, people aren’t as fired up by gay marriage as they were a couple years ago, and the right is losing the battle for stem cell research, but I think that’s regional in nature.  Here in Missouri, Conservative Christians still have a stranglehold on far too many state offices.  In rural areas of the state a Democrat couldn’t pay to get elected unless he or she acted like a Republican; and even then most of the Conservative Christians in my area vote a Republican straight ticket.  On a national level I do believe the Religious Right’s power is on the decline.  They still have a lot of fight in them, but they are losing young people in droves and while these young people often return to the church after marriage and children, the fire and brimstone version of Christianity doesn’t play too well with them. 

Moreover, I think many Evangelicals are starting to understand the Republican Party is only giving lip service to the issues they believe in.  Yeah, abortion is a bit more restricted, but those restrictions are, sadly, supported by a larger number of Americans, not just Evangelicals.  On other issues like gay marriage and stem cell research Evangelicals have seen little to no movement.  Add to that the fact that many Evangelicals are seeing issues like poverty, the homeless, the environment, and the economy as part of their call to Witness.  Evangelicals themselves are beginning to crack along these very lines.  I can’t say that I’m sorry to see this happen.  I may accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, but I don’t think religion has such a strong place in government as it’s had under the Bush Administration.