Living in Wisconsin‘s post gay-marriage (and its legal equivalent) ban climate of lukewarm political activism, one would think the state’s various religious constituencies have cemented their electoral grip on the issues that matter most to them. The ban, which passed in 2006, was carried to victory on a tide of homophobic sentiment and framed through the whimsical lens of preserving Wisconsin‘s families. And these proved to be powerful weapons, particularly in a state whose religious authorities have not been ashamed to participate openly in the legislation of bigotry. The ban passed. The Ballwegs and Nasses of the state succeeded in protecting the hapless Wisconsin family from the creeping advance of gaydom.

However, their time may be coming to an end. A recent poll conducted by the American Religious Survey found 76 percent of the state’s population identifies as Christian, down from 91 percent in 1990. Additionally, as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, the percentage of individuals identifying themselves as having no religion rose from 6 to 15 percent in this past year. The results reflect a larger trend nationally, and the justification is as easy to spot as the evidence — the country is becoming more educated. Opposition to the ban was — to some extent — coordinated through individuals whose religious credentials were manifested via their affiliation with bigoted organizations such as the Wisconsin Family Council and other groups. As the Pew Center found, religion among every age group was correlated with higher opposition to allowing gay marriage. This is not to say all Christians are bigots. They certainly aren’t. But on the same token, worshipping a book that endorses slavery (only from neighboring countries, though — like Canada!) and executions of homosexuals tend to have a degenerative effect on one’s moral state.

Religion — and the completely arbitrary but widely prevalent assumption that tradition validates disallowing homosexuals to marry — has proven to be the most powerful ideological opponent of allowing gay marriage. Its eradication should not be associated with a decline in the general moral state of the country. Rather, the steady falling off of religious values symbolizes an American population unwilling to withstand the dictates of a clan of quasi-literate druids.

Education, or lack thereof, is also powerfully correlated with opposition to gay marriage. But what is perhaps most amusing about the decline in Wisconsin’s Christian demographic is the very tactics enacted by these throwbacks to America’s bigoted past to ban gay marriage will soon be utilized against them. Statistics are impossible to argue with. Assuming the decline in Christian religious affiliation continues for the foreseeable future, it is likely the 2006 amendment will be overturned sometime soon; at the very least, domestic partnerships for same-sex couples have become significantly more feasible in light of this evidence. The Christian right, simply put, is stumbling to an ungracious death.

Granted, it will take a significant length of time before the extension of this fundamental liberty comes to the fore of the state consciousness again. The 2006 ban is not so distant as rational human beings would like to believe. It passed with a comfortable margin. But in the absence of the local pastor, few will be willing to become activists for the cause of intellectual degeneracy.

But what of the notion that enshrining cultic values in the nation’s Constitution was sanctioned by a group of founders concerned with the religious development of the nation? After all, the most resonant argument in opposition to gay marriage has always been that America is travelling too far from the beliefs of its founders — that a society founded on religious truth is the real fruition of morality in this country.

Perhaps no better counter-statement can be provided than that of Thomas Jefferson, one of the most notable signers of said document. Observing the now-impending future, he wrote, “And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, [conceived] by the Supreme Being as his father in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the generation of the fable of Minerve in the brain of Jupiter.”

Sam Clegg ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in economics and history.