Vermont

Yesterday I mentioned the American Religious Identification Survey, and I thought I would return to it to make a point about the state of Vermont. Every time I visit the Green Mountain State is reminds me of Oregon. Both are so beautiful and offer great backpacking and fly fishing. Even though they are on opposite sides of the continent, there are so many geographical and cultural similarities.

In terms of religion, they are also similar. Oregon used to be the least religious state. Now Vermont is the least religious state in the country. In fact, between 1990 and 2008, the Green Mountain State had the largest percentage increase of non-religious people. I think you can see the impact.

The Vermont legislature recently voted to legalize same-sex marriage. When the governor vetoed the bill, the legislature had enough votes to override the veto. This was the first state to have its legislature establish same-sex marriage. The other states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, and Iowa) had it imposed upon them by judges.

Vermont is also one of the few states to vote down “Jessica’s Law.” This law would put in place tough sentences on child sexual predators. It would take discretion away from judges and impose mandatory minimum sentences.

Recently the Vermont Senate passed a bill decriminalizing consensual “sexting.” I have talked about this in other commentaries. This is when teens send sexual pictures of themselves to others. The bill says that teens can do this, but not to distribute the photos to more than one person or to an adult. While we certainly don’t want to prosecute kids doing stupid things with their cell phones, this bill is sending the wrong message.

These are just a few legislative actions happening in a state that has become the most secular state in America. Sure, there are many Christians in the state, but they are now outnumbered and this is the result. Do Christian values matter in a society? Sure they do. This is what happens when Christians are minimized and marginalized. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.