Kite-
I don't think Rod Dreher would disagree that those things are good and it would appear as though lots of progress has been made, but...
What he has observed, is that if anything that comes in the way of "religious liberty" then religious liberty is the loser. He cites the big reason for this is kids each generation are less religiously observant. In many ways, we should have practiced something akin to the BenOP all along. Our culture does not sustain a religious life. I think a lot of the readers would have thought our culture did do this or at least should do it, and have a hard time with a lot of more recent changes.
EDIT:Just to be clear, I don't think he wants to return to some fantasized past, at all(even if he did it would probably be somewhere between the end of the dark ages and beginning middle ages; not 1950s america). Dont' get too hung up on that point.