I am fascinated by what is going on right now and by the research behind what Putnam is saying.

His take on the Culture Shocks from the 60’s, the after-shock reaction of the Religious Right in the 80’s and the current reaction to this by the young ‘nones’ is eye opening. There is a shifting and a settling happening that is noteworthy.

This is not simple stuff.  It is complex and it is multi-layered.  The part that is most intriguing to me is the trough that is forming – the gap between the far right and the far left (with few left in the middle).  This is an emerging theme that is showing up in many arenas. It is the collapse of the Bell Curve logic and in our era, it is an increasing trend. The Trough is showing up in church attendance, political involvement, and views on marriage.

Here is his article from the LA Times two weeks ago.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/17/opinion/la-oe-1017-putnam-religion-20101017

Here is the rundown of a talk that he gave last week:

http://zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2010/10/21/how-religion-is-transforming-america/politics/

Here is the video of that interview:

http://zocalopublicsquare.org/fullVideo.php?event_year=2010&event_id=444&video=&page=1

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