1990s opened, a backlash against the growing public presence of conservative Christians manifested itself in the increasing numbers of Americans who objected to the political influence of religious leaders and organized religion more generally. Young Americans in particular came to view religion as judgmental, homophobic, hypocritical, and partisan.81 All these were warning signs that a second aftershock was about to roil the American religious landscape. The rise of the so-called nones after 1990 marked unmistakably the onset of this third temblor.
