The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again

by Robert D. Putnam

The anxieties of World War II heightened American religiosity—no atheists in foxholes, it was said. Exactly like the economic and political trends we examined in the previous two chapters, however, the invigorated religious observance did not fade after the war, but accelerated.61 Postwar affluence and the onset of the Cold War against “godless communism” encouraged a paradoxical mixture of material optimism and respect for traditional values, including both patriotism and religion. The boom in churchgoing was fueled by men and women who had survived the Great Depression as teenagers and World War II as grunts and girlfriends, and were now ready at last to settle into a normal life, with a steady job, a new house and car, and a growing family. Then, as now, getting married, settling down, and raising children were associated with more regular churchgoing.