"It's cheaper to be a good person."

Well, as you all know, I've been down for the count for the past couple of days with a bad case of bursitis in my right hip. As I've stayed home from work due to, you know, the whole "not being able to walk" thing, I had a chance to catch up on stuff. And this post from Beau of the Fifth Column piqued my interest.

Now, let me be honest: I have an issue with this video. And my issue is that on the YouTube page, he doesn't link to the poll he's citing. That is beyond annoying. It changed the entire trajectory of this essay, since I have no idea to what data he refers.

However, if you perform a cursory Google search, you can find many polls which paint the same basic picture: the pews are emptying, and it's because people are tired of churches being intolerant and hateful.

Now, we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves. Among the major industrial powers, religiosity is still more prevalent in the US than in the rest of the developed world. But, especially among the younger generations, that religiosity is falling apart.

Younger Millennials and Gen Z have grown up in a world where hating what their conservative religions say that they should hate is no longer tenable. And even us older folks are just fed up with the constant negativity. We don't want to live in Gilead. We don't want to live in a dystopia where we have no autonomy or freedom of thought and action. And that's what fundamentalists are selling. They sell a vision of a world roiled in a hellscape, and their teachings are the only way to safety. Who wants that if you're at all mentally and spiritually sound?

And, of course, we see daily instances where those who hold themselves up morally over mere mortals are shown to be anything but paragons. "Not a drag queen" trends for a reason whenever a youth pastor is outed as being at best a sex pest, at worst a pedophile.

For decades it was an unspoken rule that one's religious beliefs were one's own, and one wouldn't force them into the public square. But, of course, that broke down due to the civil rights revolution. Southern—and not just Southern—whites, who had a religious attachment to white supremacy, felt that to save their "heritage", they had to conquer the rest of the country ideologically. Feminism and female autonomy were other triggers, after contraception was approved, and Roe v. Wade became, for a time, the law of the land. Add to that gay rights and immigrant rights, and those good Christians lost the plot. And the Republican Party welcomed it into its ranks, as it saw this fundamentalism as a fertile field for votes. The Moral Majority was neither moral nor a majority, but it gave votes to a coalition which was facing a slow bleeding of its members.

Our opponents bemoan "cancel culture". They base their opposition to it as flying the flag of free speech. But, of course, their free speech rights are in no way impinged. They can say whatever hateful things they want to say. However, speech has a cost. I am not the government. I have no power to put you in prison, nor should I, or the government, have that power for protected speech. But I am under no obligation to break bread with you. I am under no obligation to welcome you into my home. You can vilify whomever you want; I can respond by withdrawing my fellowship.

And that's what drives them mad. Those who oppose them have made it clear that free speech does not mean freedom from consequence. You can say whatever you want. Have at it. But those of us who disagree with your vileness have no obligation to debate you. We can simply shun you. And we're the majority. That fact—that they are not the silent majority—is a slap in the face. It bursts the bubble in which they live. And they don't deal well with it. 

It is cheaper to be a good person. And being good is no more and no less than what the blessed Rabbi Hillel said: That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. Most of us don't want to deal with assholes, and will impose a cost on them. That those who insist on being assholes don't accept this is why they are isolated. It is, quite simply, the free market. And fewer people want to buy what they are selling.

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