I'm not sure how to take anything that comes from the Moonie Times.

It is an odd issue. It has been a problem since the early 19th c. reaction to the deism of the founders of the country. While there were revivals and nonsense like Prohibition and the drug laws with a religious foundation (Irish and Italian immigrants known for being both drinkers and Catholics figured heavily into the matter along with the second wave of Germans/Poles/Czechs who also were both) it didn't take root until after WWII.

After that war the country discovered its great and noble ally were really godless communists. The believers used the godless part to push the god into politics. Adding 'under god' to the pledge and 'In god we trust' to the coins were the first obvious influences. More importantly the US did not support every country against communism. It supported those countries with a Christian ruling class against communism. Vietnam is the best known example. In the first decades of Palestinian resistance against Israel it was lead by Christian "arabs." It was only after the fight was taken up by Muslim arabs that they became terrorists.

Then there was Ronald Reagen who was able to add the Christians to the Republican party by promising them everything and delivering fuzzy, warm speeches. When they realized they had been used they started direct political action with the Moral Majority and similar organizations. They switched from supporting candidates to vetting and fielding their own candidates.

Thus today we have a situation where politicians almost have to lead with their religion. In the good old days god was a character mentioned in passing at the end of patriotic speeches or at best an allegorical reference.

Something little known outside of government in DC is starting in the early 70s otherwise intelligent, college educated people were involving themselves in fundamentalist form of Christianity emphasizing American exceptionalism as a religious issue. It transferred into the job. It was a growing phenomenon in the civilian DOD in the late 70s and by the 80s had taken root in the military side. In the last decade the born-again movement taking over the US Air Force Academy has been in the news, the subject of lawsuits, and growing unabated. The reason it keeps growing is the breadth and depth of the penetration of the movement. There is no single source to eliminate and eliminating a few just encourages the many.

The good news is, no matter how bleak that sounds, we are now about at the peak of the worst of it and it isn't all that bad.

I say it is a peak as non-interest in religion, lack of affliation, is the fastest growing fraction of the population. Lack of affiliation means their children are not affiliated and organized religions do not get replacements and shrink. At some point they collapse from lack of interest. In the the US is following trend of 1st world countries just a few decades behind. In Europe organized religions are still around largely because they are supported and/or financially protected by the governments. And that because the older people run the governments and they have not completely lost interest. One more generation and it is over in Europe. Two more for the US.

I can give lots of examples but they all point the same direction.

Keep in mind the WashTimes is a Moonie publication and is partial to Pentacostals, born-agains and similar movements. When it says 500 million worldwide it is counting all the variations including those which hate each other and those which are only marginally in the group and those who are members by self-identification. In other words, greatly exaggerated.

To see why, it clearly implies it is a Christian movement of which there are only 1.2 billion in the world. I am certain you know a few Christians. Are nearly half of them Pentacostals? If not, how are you avoiding them? Obviously the number does not pass even an elementary sanity check.

Rest assured they are not in Europe as Russia is the only country where they are growing but are being met with aggressive antagonism. They are not in Latin America where Catholics dominate in the don't really give a damn Italian and Spanish sense. So where are they hiding? They are hiding in the books on how to lie with statistics.

What we are seeing is a prominence of these types who can be called Pentacostals but are mainly in the old-timer positions in government and business where they can inflate their own influence simply by positions they obtained by longevity. Those US gov types in the 70s and 80s are now retiring and their jobs filled by younger folks who aren't on board with the program.

Outside government they are in senior positions in organizations that issue ponderous and impressive studies where they can fake studies that suggest impressive numbers which the kid reporters are too dumb and impresionable to criticize. Imagine the article having reported not 500 million but that 5 out of 12 Christians are Pentacostals. Who would have taken it seriously?