but not in my lifetime, I'm afraid.

Europe has less chain stores and cheesey churches .

Perhaps it is time to think about moving.

When is some tropical island gonna go atheist?! Sheesh!

religion impedes progress. no link, just opinion. But, here in America, we repress Christianity.. you know, because we can't pray in schools and stupid shit like that.
My little town of 400 souls, has 4, count em, 4 churches and in our county of 10,000 souls, I've lost count. No wonder this is a Republican stronghold and struggles for progress. The only town in the county with no churches has the most progressive local taxes, a consistently good economy, and votes Democratic in every election.

Damn, where's that paradise?

The demo(n)-graphics in this part of Dixie are otherwise pretty much the same as yours. (And yes, I do miss Los Angeles.)

There is one interesting local church (though not so interesting I want to start attending). A non-denominational church that dates back to the early 19th century, when this part of the Appalachians was sparsely settled. It was (and is) simply called "the Union church" and admitted any believer. I wonder if the name "Union Church" caused them any trouble around 1861. Parts of this area were settled by German religious dissidents who banned slavery in their communities.

Virtually the only progressives around here are pockets of retirees from other parts of the USA. They get regularly attacked on the Op-Ed pages as a bunch of overeducated Yankee elitists. IOW, they know the Sun doesn't revolve around the Earth...

I know, right? I even have a hard time believing it. There are a couple of churches with the name "Winter Park" but they're outside of town.

leads to religion having a less powerful grip on the citizenry. As the religion gets it's grubby fingers into the state machinery, it gets harder and harder to look serene and disinterested.

On the other hand, it could be that the state itself tames the religion for it's own means/survival. The church becomes a sort of spiritual functionary of government.

The Catholic Church is perhaps the world's first and most successful multinational corporation. It's epicentre is it's own psuedo-nation and it is not bound by any 'foreign' government.

It is largely free from government control and the stigma of being tied to any one government. It presents the image of being above government, despite the fact of it's invasive attitude towards governments around the world.

I think that being the charred remains of a global empire defangs it. Just look at other countries with one, like the middle east, and see if the same could be said.