One factor in the growth of this religiosity is the growing power of the mass media. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 exacerbated the trends toward media concentration. This has led to daily doses of spiritual-paranormal programming. The Telecommunications Act has had another ominous fallout. It has led to the growth of religious radio stations.
Religious programming is now the third-largest radio format in the country.
There is not one station in America devoted exclusively to atheism or skepticism, or, indeed, few programs that express the secular humanist viewpoint. Perhaps a far more serious phenomenon in the long run is that intellectual criticism of religion in America, particularly by liberal secularists and rationalists, has become muted. It is considered bad taste to attack religion. Historically, small intellectual magazines have been on the cutting edge of thought, providing alternative viewpoints so essential to a free market of ideas. Alas, today there are few if any magazines devoted to secular rationalism.