Christianity's Loss or Seclarism's Gain?

Newsweek's cover story this week is entitled "The End of Christianity"

The article itself is not really about the end of Christianity in America. That was simply an attention grab. It's more about Christianity losing ground and prestige to the modern Secular Progressive ideology.

Now, my contention would be that this isn't a move from dark to light, from superstition to science. I find activist Atheism itself to be a comprehensive religion itself. It has dogmas, morals, and an eschatology. Simply through science and education, mankind will be able to build for itself a better and more "just" society, if only the unenlightened and uninitiated wouldn't interfere. If American Christianity is in decline, it's because of the evangelistic model of modern atheism which may simply be a Christian heresy.

Only within the Christian West has pluralism been tried and sustained. In the Islamic world, religious minorities were to be contained within a certain sphere. In the far East, cultures were more or less homogeneous and closed to outside interference. Only in the West, where Christianity has directly led to democratization and expansion of personal freedoms has atheism been given a chance to prosper.

In practice, what has the Secular Progressive ideology embraced? "Social justice," radical egalitarianism, extreme environmentalism, extension of rights to the animal world, and sexual liberation have all been causes directly aligned with atheistic,secular forces. Tangentially, every one of these ideologies has a basis in Christianity, but stripped of traditional "God-inspired" context. God, then, has been replaced with scientific order (extending of course into the social sphere), and salvation has been replaced with the utopian just and harmonious society.

Are we headed for post-Christianity? Europe seems much further down that road. However, heresies have also waxed and waned throughout history as well. An orthodox understanding of Christianity, even from the wilderness, has always and can always come back from virtual death.

-Steve K.

Atheists File Suit Against Inauguration

"We're hoping to stop prayer and religious rituals at governmental functions, especially at the inauguration," Barker told FOX News Radio.
"The inauguration is not a religious event. It is a secular event of a secular country that includes all Americans, including those of us who are not Christians, including those of us who are not believers," he continued.
...
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is the same group that fought to have atheist displays next to holiday displays, most notably in Washington state this year.
He said if Obama wants to hold a private religious ceremony, that would be more appropriate than having religious figures up on stage at his swearing in ceremony.
Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council, said it's Obama's decision whether to include a prayer, not the government's.

full article

Well they never seem to get tired of this.

Question: Was America founded as a non-theistic state? Or was it founded as a state where presumably religious people were allowed the freedom to practice religion without a "state Church?" There's clergy on the Declaration of Independence. The Continental Congress opened with a prayer. There's a difference between a secular state and Secularism.