If there is one thing that The Donald’s ascent to electoral relevance has awakened watching Americans to is that we are, contrary to our self-definition, very much a class stratified society.

Rachel Held Evan’s tweet sent me to read the article.

If you read the letter from “Matthew” and then the mirroring, self-identifying initial response by Zierman they overflow with cultural artifacts that designate class. I’d suggest that class stratifies church and country more than race.

Part of what I think is happening in this big post-evangelical conversation is class migration. I suspect that if you looked at the non-religious artifacts of the post-evangelical class you’d find numerous artifacts of class migration.

• What schools are they going to?
• What non-religious authors are they reading? What magazines are they reading?
• What non-religious TV and movies are they consuming?
• What non-religious music are they listening to?
• What coffee and wine are they drinking?
• How are their clothing, make-up and accessorizing changing?
• What furniture are they using in their homes?
• What cars are they driving?
• What jobs are bringing income into the home?

I suspect if a sociologist or an anthropologist were exploring these lives looking not  religion but class they’d see a marked change.

I’m not trying to de-legitimate the religious narrative in this. I’m simply observing that when it comes to religion and culture there are always more levels engaged and layers of identity formed than we are self-aware of.