Heathen Nation

Here's USA Today doing what it does best by creating a colorful graph to showcase the results of a survey. In this case, it's actually interesting.

Having grown up in the only state with a Catholic majority, Rhode Island, I can say that I find the steep decline unsurprising. The Catholic Church has had a very rough couple of decades and in my opinion, the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to replace John Paul II was a tremendously arrogant move. Amidst fading prominence and allegations of abuse, the Counsel of Cardinals chose the oldest and most conservative candidate of the bunch. Why not a person of color, a younger man with new ideas, or somebody from the developing world?