I think there was a backlash when prayer in school was under attack. In truth prayer in school was not outlawed for the religious. Nor can it ever be. What was prohibited is a school official leading the entire school via intercom in one religions prayer.
Christians can pray in school anytime they want to.
I think America started to slide away from religious values when abortion on demand became legal. It's like a domino affect. Revoke responsibility for one's actions, unless of course it is determined full term pregnancy will kill the mother, in which case the surgery should be allowed, and all other responsibilities associated with sex and coupling start to dissolve.
After abortion was legalized we started seeing single parent households appearing more frequently in America. True, that woman did choose to have her baby and that is a good thing. But that she had her baby out of wedlock demonstrated a renunciation of Christian values.
And truly it can be said that not everyone in America is Christian and therefore is not obligated to live by Christian values. However, the example that arrives in society, a single mother, sets a precedent for others to follow. And follow they did.
Then instead of marriage our society during the sexual revolution evolved into unmarried couples living together.
Non-traditional relationship came out of the closet. And in 1970 America witnessed its very first "gay pride parade" in Chicago.
In the next decade programming, aptly named, on television started to take a downward spiral. We had shows that made comedic fun of gay and transvestite icons.
Billy Crystal, who hosted the Oscars numerous times to date, got his shot at public attention in the TV series, "Soap". Where he played an openly gay man. The show played from 1977 to 1981.
Today's famed actor Tom Hanks got his start on TV in a series where he became famous as a cross dresser. "Bosom Buddies". His costar fell into obscurity. That show ran from 1980 to 1982.
And all those sinful lifestyles were programmed into society on a platform of pardon and acceptance because they were delivered to our eyes and ears as something to laugh at and with.
There's a book, published in the 1970's, that describes what was and remains a literal gay agenda. "After The Ball". The outline in that book for introducing gay culture and overcoming conservative values in America was drafted by attorneys and others. And everything that has transpired to date regarding "Trans-rights" and "gay rights" is a product of its employment.
There was a dictator back in the mid 20th century who's name I can't recall. He said, when America falls she shall fall from within.
How does the crumble happen? How do people see the wall start to crack, the mortar become unstable, the bricks chip and fall away, and do nothing?
This man in this Columbus bar was kicked out for wearing a cross in 2014! It would have never occurred to a bar employee to do such a thing in 1990. Nor in 2000. But they did do it in 2014.
Why?
Because they think they can.
How does that wall of Christian rights that are the first guarantee in America's Constitution, a living document, start to crumble? How does the crumble grow to mortar chipping away and falling to the ground? How do bricks crack and dislodge in this nation wherein the majority in population are Christ's people?
We can't get millions of Christians to pick up a bag of Quikrete and patch that wall. Who would pay attention if one of us stood there with a trowel and screamed: "THE WALL IS CRACKED!" ?
Today, police will advise people that when they're suffering an attack by an assailant rather than scream, "HELP!" , scream, "FIRE!" instead. Because people will come to watch something burn before they'll come to save someone from someone else.
Rather than scream, "THE WALL IS CRACKED!" , and expect the whole Christian community to respond, our duty, and indeed our mistake long years ago when the school prayer issue came to our attention, was that we did not act individually. And set an example thereby to the collective.
The wall is cracked, bricks are missing, the foundation is sagging and it's only getting worse. I've got a shovel and a fully gassed pickup truck full of fill dirt.
What do you have to bring to the wall?
That's not it at all. But Christians are not interested in their civic duty any more than in meditating on the word of God. "Sunday and Wednesday are good enough for me", and so we have these issues. When statistically you cannot tell if a divorced "family" is Christian or secular in marriage, what hope is there? American Christians are too comfortable in their way of life, they don't understand how threatened it is, but then they're unaware of their spiritual state too, having tickling ears. When tax money supports Planned Parenthood and a handful of token Christians gets involved it's a shame to God and the squandering of the precious gift we have. But I thoroughly believe America died as a truly Christian society in the 1960's when they refused to rise up against the prohibition of prayer in school. Within 10 years abortion became legal. When there are under 1 million protesters, there's no hope of change in a country of ~318 million! There are more pseudo Christians than real ones, the evidence to that is clear only to those living in the spirit. The issue isn't the prohibition of one wearing a cross, but that society has degraded so much as to be bold enough to try and prohibit it.