Is Old Time Religion a Dinosaur?: PW Talks with Christian Smith.

The article focuses on Notre Dame sociology professor Christian Smith's analysis of the decline of traditional, organized religion in America, particularly from 1991 to 2009, as explored in his book *Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America*. Smith attributes this shift to cultural changes affecting millennials and Generation X, who increasingly embrace a "culture of enchantment"—a broad interest in spirituality outside institutional religion, including occult and Eastern practices—rather than secularism or atheism, which many find lacking in moral and spiritual depth. He also discusses the political mobilization of Christian nationalists feeling embattled in contemporary society and suggests that traditional religion's cultural influence is unlikely to rebound soon amid ongoing social and technological transformations.