Is there hope for America? Is there hope for us? If pollsters and TIME magazine are to be believed the answer is yes. According to a recent article in America's leading news magazine, since Christianity launched its singular war on homosexuality and politics, this old-time religion is slipping quickly in popularity. TIME cites three interesting measures: A dramatic rise in the number of Americans describing themselves as non-Christians, a general feeling in the American population that Christianity is driven by hate, hypocrisy and a troubling urge to meddle in secular politics, and the rapid rise of a belief among young Christians that homophobia is simply wrong and, well, un-Christian.

TIME reports: "Not only has the decline in non-Christians' regard for Christianity been severe, but...results also show a rapid increase in the number of people describing themselves as non-Christian. One reason may be that the study used a stricter definition of "Christian" that applied to only 73% of Americans. Still [the researcher] claims that however defined, the number of non-Christians is growing with each succeeding generation: His study found that 23% of Americans over 61 were non-Christians; 27% among people ages 42-60; and 40% among 16-29 year olds. Younger Christians, he concludes, are therefore likely to live in an environment where two out of every five of their peers is not a Christian.

"Churchgoers of the same age share several of the non-Christians' complaints about Christianity. For instance, 80% of the Christians polled picked "anti-homosexual" as a negative adjective describing Christianity today. And the view of 85% of non-Christians aged 16-29 that present day Christianity is "hypocritical - saying one thing doing another," was, in fact, shared by 52% of Christians of the same age. Fifty percent found their own faith "too involved in politics." Forty-four percent found it "confusing."

With any luck, Congress, as poll-obsessed as it is, will take heed of these trends sooner rather than later and move forward on ENDA with votes informed by the Constitution and reality rather than by a moronic and hateful reading of a supernatural history of the ancient world.

Of course, we're not really talking about Christianity here; we're talking about American provincialism, bigotry, ignorance and big business. led by megalomaniacal greedy villains who have hijacked Christianity and turned it into something rather dark. foul and profit-driven. James Dobson, for example, reported a 2006 tax-exempt income of $138 million. Pat Robertson enjoyed a 2006 tax-exempt income of $459 million.

And, if TIME magazine is right, people are finally starting to notice, Non-Christian and Christian alike. Hallelujah.