According to the Los Angeles Times, the percentage of people who identify as religious is decreasing in the United States.
We speculate that a major reason for the decline is that so many religions in this country are holding on to the hierarchy that is in their base, and are unwilling to move past the dictates of men who are on top of hierarchies and building hierarchies in the name of religion and of a deity they proclaim to be supporting hierarchies.
Of course most prominent recently is the insistence of some Christians that they can claim religious freedom allows them to build and maintain the sexual orientation hierarchy when it comes to being involved in same-sex marriage ceremonies. Also, when a religion claims it has the only ticket to heaven, a hierarchy is formed between those willing to follow that the religion and everyone else.
See the Religion section of this website for more explanation of how in hierarchical religions, "Man" is not made in the image of "God," but "God" is made in the image of a man on top of a hierarchy.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83520403/
