racism isn't as big a issue as it was 50 years ago

Only because nobody's talking about it. Minorities are still the vast majority of arrests, have much worse financial outcomes. While there aren't the Jim Crow laws anymore, there are plenty of ways racism is still alive and well.

Republicans may come around in time about homosexuality, but it will only happen with them kicking and screaming. And that assumes that the fundy baptists and evangelicals let them.

As for science, they've been moving backwards for close to two decades which ties in with the christian influence that's been growing since the 70s.

To quote Barry Goldwater:

On religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both.

I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in "A," "B," "C" and "D." Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?

And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."