It turns out only the ‘culture warriors’ think there is a war on religious freedom

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Yet another example of cognitive dissonance. The "culture warriors" of the far-right are waging a religious crusade against their fellow American citizens, but they are the ones who perceive there is a war on religious freedom — the God's Own Party (GOP) talking point dujure from Frank Luntz. Project much?

The Public Religion Research Institution asked a random sample of 1,007 adults 18 years of age or older whether religious liberty was under attack in the United States, and whether government-mandated birth control coverage was part of that threat. And the American public said, "are you kidding?" Daily Kos: Religious liberty not under attack in America, says majority:

Washington, DC— On the heels of a months-long heated debate on religious liberty, a new national survey finds that a majority (56%) of Americans do NOT believe that the right of religious liberty is being threatened in America today. Roughly 4-in-10 (39%) believe religious liberty is under attack.

The new PRRI-RNS Religion News Survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with Religion News Service, allowed those who said religious liberty is under attack to explain in their own words why they felt the right of religious liberty is being threatened. Despite the recent heavy media focus on contraceptive coverage in the religious liberty debate, only 6% cited the contraception mandate issue. The most frequently cited reasons were perceptions that religion was being removed from the public square (23%) or that government was interfering with religion (20%).

The minority that believes that religious liberty is under attack is the minority that drives all Republican policy: "Majorities of Tea Party members (72%) Republicans (60%), and seniors (56%) believe that religious liberty is being threatened. White evangelical Protestants (61%) are the only major religious group that believes religious liberty is threatened in America today." And out of all of them, only a tiny little sliver actually believes that the birth control mandate matters.

That's a massive fail on the part of Republicans to set a narrative. Seriously, they could only get 6 percent of 39 percent of their base to follow them down the rabbit-hole on the whole birth control thing.

They did succeed in getting our Tea-Publican Arizona legislature to follow them down the rabbit hole — that tiny sliver of a far-right fringe imposing its will on the vast majority of Arizonans who do not share their radical extremist agenda. Will our "lamestream" media in Arizona finally take notice?