How Americans See Religion in Public Life

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that "a majority of U.S. adults (61%) say the influence of religion is declining in America," even though the percentage who see religion gaining (37%) is up from a low in 2024, reversing a long decline.

The recent reversal in "religious influence" in 2025-6 does not mean it is positive. The perception may just correlate with February 6, 2025, when the White House issued an executive order, Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias. And on May 1, 2025, the White House issued an executive order establishing the Religious Liberty Commission. Here is a link to the DOJ list of Religious Liberty Commission and Advisory Board members.

The Associated Press says in a May 9, 2026, article, Rejecting church and state separation is on the wish list for Trump’s religious liberty commission. that "the chair of the Religious Liberty Commission is calling for a federal hotline with this automated recording: 'There is no separation of church and state.”

"The definition of 'religious liberty' among many conservative Catholic and evangelical activists includes: increasing avenues for religious expression in public schools; expanding opportunities for faith-based organizations to receive public money; and allowing for religious-based exemptions in areas ranging from labor law to classroom lessons to healthcare mandates."

And the AP says in a May `14, 2026, article, the Trump administration will join a prayer gathering criticized for promoting Christian nationalism, stating that "Several members of the Religious Liberty Commission are scheduled to take part in a May 17, 2026, prayer event marking the country’s upcoming 250th birthday. Several also participated in a recent Bible-reading marathon staged largely at the Museum of the Bible."

Pew finds that "more than half of Americans say religion plays a positive role in society...

But most U.S. adults reject the idea that Christianity should be the nation’s official religion. And majorities want churches and other houses of worship to stay out of day-to-day politics and not endorse candidates." ~ Pew Research

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I asked Anthropic's Claude, "What is an integral worldview perspective on the principle of separation of church and state?"

Claude responded: "The integral worldview — associated primarily with Ken Wilber's Integral Theory — offers a nuanced, multi-perspectival take on the separation of church and state that neither simply defends nor dismisses it, but situates it within a developmental map of consciousness and culture.

The Integral Lens: Key Principles

1. All Quadrants, All Levels (AQAL) Integral theory insists that any complete understanding must include:

• Interior-individual (personal spiritual experience)

• Interior-collective (cultural values, shared meaning)

• Exterior-individual (behavior, neurology)

• Exterior-collective (social systems, laws, institutions)

Separation of church and state is primarily an exterior-collective achievement — a structural arrangement —, but integral theory asks: what interior development does it reflect, require, and support?

2. The Developmental Spectrum Integral theory maps worldviews across developmental stages (often color-coded in Spiral Dynamics):

• Amber/Traditional: Theocratic or religiously unified societies. Church and state are fused. Moral authority flows from divine mandate. This stage is seen as a necessary developmental achievement (over tribal chaos) but is limited.

• Orange/Rational-Modern: The Enlightenment gives rise to the separation of church and state as a rational, humanist achievement — protecting individual rights, enabling scientific governance, freeing markets of ideas. Integral theory honors this as genuine developmental progress.

• Green/Pluralistic: Emphasizes religious diversity, multiculturalism, and the protection of all spiritual paths equally. Deepens the separation principle by expanding whose religion deserves protection.

• Teal/Integral: Recognizes all prior stages as partial truths and asks a more sophisticated question.

The Integral Critique — Going Deeper

An integral perspective would affirm the separation of church and state as a genuine and necessary developmental achievement while also offering several critical nuances:

A. The "Flatland" Problem - Modernity's separation of church and state, while valuable, often reflects a materialist-reductionist worldview (what Wilber calls "Flatland") that excludes or pathologizes interior/spiritual dimensions from public life entirely. The result is not neutral — it actively privileges secular-scientific epistemology, marginalizing wisdom that comes from contemplative or spiritual traditions.

B. The Difference Between Religion and Spirituality - Integral theory distinguishes:

• Exoteric religion (institutional, dogmatic, amber-stage) — rightly kept separate from state power

• Esoteric/contemplative spirituality (interior development, wisdom traditions) — whose insights about human development, ethics, and consciousness arguably should inform governance in a non-coercive way

C. The "Pre/Trans Fallacy" Wilber warns against confusing pre-rational religion (tribal/amber fundamentalism) with trans-rational spirituality (mature, post-conventional wisdom). Lumping them together leads secular liberalism to throw out genuine developmental wisdom along with theocratic dogma.

D. The Role of Values in Governance All governance is value-laden. An integral view holds that the question is not whether values (including spiritual ones) inform public life, but which level of development those values come from. A society led by integral consciousness would be informed by contemplative depth without imposing any particular doctrine.

What an Integral Vision Might Look Like

Rather than a strict wall of separation or a theocracy, an integral society might feature:

• Protection from institutional religious coercion (preserving the best of the liberal achievement)

• Genuine respect for the interior/spiritual dimension of human life in public discourse

• Contemplative practices (mindfulness, ethical inquiry) in institutions like schools and governance — not as religion, but as developmental tools

• Epistemological humility — recognizing that secular rationalism is itself one "altitude" of knowing, not the final word

• Integral politics — transcending the culture war between religious conservatives (amber) and secular progressives (green) by finding a framework that includes and transcends both

Summary

From an integral worldview, the separation of church and state is:

• ✅ A real and important achievement of rational-modern development

• ⚠️ Incomplete if it simply exiles the spiritual from public life

• 🔄 In need of transcendence and inclusion — honoring its protective function while reintegrating genuine wisdom, interiority, and developmental depth into how societies govern themselves

The goal is not to return to theocracy, nor to maintain a sterile secular flatland, but to evolve toward a governance informed by the fullest possible understanding of human consciousness and flourishing.