The organization of American religion gives religious groups the freedom to compete for adherents, which appears to create a dynamic vitality. It also leads to competition, pluralism, and ultimately a very segmented market. For our purposes, there is an important consequence of this segmented market. A key function in most religions is to proclaim what ought to be, what is universally true, what is right and just. We may call this the prophetic voice. But the organization of American religion fragments this prophetic voice, even within the same religion, into thousands of different voices.
