The Religious Right is dead
Guys – have a quick puff of your joint before heading down the aisle with your boyfriend.
In addition to re-electing Obama, various American states voted to legalise dope and gay marriage. OK, so they weren't necessarily the same states, but you get the picture.
Last night was a victory for secular liberal America – or, to put it another way, America's emerging secular liberal majority.
The United States is still pious by European standards, but the gap is narrowing every year. You cannot visit American bookshops without being struck by the popularity of atheist cheerleaders or agnostic self-help gurus; when I meet a young New Yorker or Californian I assume – as I would in Britain – that they don't go to church, have liberal positions on abortion and homosexuality and generally despise the conservative religious activism that, until so recently, had the power to elect presidents.
America has just re-elected its first post-Christian president (unless you count Jefferson).
I've never thought that Barack Obama's churchgoing was anything more than Chicago politics: why else would a sophisticated Harvard-educated lawyer sit through years of incoherent ranting by the Rev Jeremiah Wright?
Americans: welcome to Europe. You may miss the City on the Hill but, hey – no one's going to give you a hard time if you stay in bed on Sunday morning.
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