Will there ever be another "great awakening" in America?

Many people believe that religion is on a permanent decline in America. And there is no doubt that over the past 15 years or so, that has largely been the case.

However, there is some evidence that similar declines in religion that happened in the past were interrupted by periods of religious resurgence.

The most recent example of course being the 1980s. The counterculture movements that occurred in the 60s and 70s had significant strains of atheism and secularism associated with them. The adverse activities of this counterculture such as crime, drug use, and loafing around, however, came to be viewed by many as the result of a decline in religious practice and church-going.

Alas- the 1980s- when the religious right was born and sociologists noticed a very apparent surge in religious emphasis and adherence.

The very famous economic historian Robert Fogel, among other social scientists, has caused this social trend "the fourth great awakening".

That has largely ended however. Extremely effective modern day mass media, comedy, and a millennial generation that is perhaps the most "liberal" generation in American history has caused an obvious decline in the role of religion in this nation. Less and less people are identifying as christian, and socially permissive ideas as non-chalant abortion, homosexuality, and out of wedlock births are readily accepted and even glorified.


My question...... is this a permanent trend. Will serious social ills start to emerge that cause folks to seek out traditional answers again?