Where Have All the Christians Gone?
Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.
A shocking new study of Americans' religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans' relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the Pilgrims.
The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.
Other headlines:
- The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.
- The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.
- Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20's profess no organized religion.
- But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. That number hasn't budged and stands at less than 1 percent. (Agnostics are similarly less than 1 percent.) Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.
The implications for American society are profound. Americans' relationship with God, which drove many of the country's great transformations from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the civil rights movement, is still intact. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power.
But at the same time, the study offers yet another wake-up call for religious institutions.
First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out.
Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don't think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God.
Finally, Americans' interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.
Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations need to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond fading divisions and move toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.
Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.
Follow Bruce Feiler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brucefeiler
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I wish more people who claim to be Christian would act like more Christ-like, and stop inverting and perverting the Gospel. I'm a devout Christian, and I firmly believe the worst mistake the Church ever made was the Roman Conversion. Because of that, the Church became intolerant and prone to support power over justice. Christianity, in my opinion, works best when it's persecuted. I don't want my fellow coreligionists thrown to wild beasts, but it would be nice if the Church acted as it once did.
Hi Liberal Angel! I do also fervently wish what you wish about more people who claim to be Christian actually tried acting Christlike. What do you mean by Roman Conversion? Do you mean Constantine legalizing Christianity? Or do you mean the period of inquisition in the West? I think one of the problems is it is so easy to say you are a Christian because maybe you think you should be and it doesn't require anything of you. There is a book you might really enjoy called: Being as Communion which looks at some of the issues you hint at. It is by John Zizioulas. Here is a link that talks about this theologian and his work: http://ort
Hey Min Syn! I meant the legalization of Christianity. After that, it just seems that the Church started down a path to justifying the rule of Man over the rule of God. I think the inquisitions were a logical out growth of the fusion of Church and State that it caused. Yeah, a lot of people seem to think being a Christian is in the proclaimation, not the journey. In my view, the Great Commission was more about proclaiming the Gospel by being a portal for the glory of God to shine through as an example of what God wants us to be, rather than just preaching to people and not really helping them to grow as spiritual beings. I think it's easier to just be the example than to preach to any weak mind you can mold. If people just regurgitate what they heard someone else saying, they're more likely to become apostates I think. I'm going to look into Being as Communion. I love learning other points of view (though I suspect it won't be very different to my own).
"Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthoug
Oh, the horror; the horror! Such a backward barbaric civilization those Euros have.
Yes, a "backward barbaric civilization" where people don't wind up on the curb because of an illness or injury ..... it's frightening!
Yes! Can you imagine societies practicing Christians ethics without the dogma? Horror!
In Europe, the availability of universal health care and other social benefits has nothing to do with the degree of religiosity of the country. The southern, Mediterranean European countries are much more "religious" than the northern countries yet *all* they all have excellent social safety nets.
"But these non-believers are not particularly atheist."
"Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.
These two statements are hilariously incompatible.
The author probably meant something like: "Those non-dogmat
Yes. That kind of editor.
I would give the Christian Morality Right the credit for killing Christianity. I would add the RC church to that list too...peop
"Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthoug
problem being...?
I'll take the profundity of science and reason over superstition, mythology, and bankrupt attempts at monopolizing morality any day.
"Plummetin
I can hardly come to the same conclusion as you, that the implications of these changes are "profound.
"Having a nation made up of 76% Christians is troubling to me,
Don't worry. Only 40% of the 76% claim to attend chuch weekly when surveyed and about half of those are probably lying. Other studies indicate only about 25% of Christians actually do attend church regularly. That works out to about 19% of the nation are true Christians. The rest of the so-called Christians are just faking it. :-D
I have an idea on how they might at least reach the thinking public. Instead of just allowing the only representatives most see of the Christian faith to be the nutjobs bombing abortion clinics, etc., how about active Christian progressive groups? Jesus' teachings themselves aren't anything like the hate spewed by the only Christians anyone ever sees on the news.
Best news I have read all day. It's called progress..
You know Neal...I don't see anybody knocking you and making insults because you seem to have been passed up by a faith. Grow up for gosh sakes. Some people are good people who are christians
The extreme right-wing of the Republican party is to blame. People like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and all of the other crazies who claim to follow Christ's teachings, and who constantly stick their noses into everyone's business. telling us how to live our lives, while THEY don't practice what they preach. Sanford, Beck, Hannity, Steve King, and every one of the "C-Streeters" are nothing but hypocrites. There are many others, too numerous to mention, but all of them have one thing in common: They are all Republicans not one is a TRUE Christian, though they want you to believe that they are. With these people in positions of power and influence, it's no surprise that people are turned off of religion.
I know! And No True Scotsman has butter in his porridge, either!
http://en.
hehe. Bingo.
The Wiki piece doesn't apply. Ladycubsfan didn't make a claim for all Christians being perfect (or any similar universal claim). Read the Wiki article again and take in its essence.
Furthermore, she explained what she meant by "true Christian"--that is, one who follows Christ's teachings. Clearly, she feels that extreme right-wing Republicans do not follow those teachings. Hence, by her definition, they are not true Christians. Worse yet, they claim to follow Christ's teachings but don't.
No fallacy, no wiggling out of a universal claim. Clearly, the "no true Scotsman" fallacy has nothing whatsoever to do with ladycubsfan's post.
Woo Hoo! Less Christians. We should be so lucky to have religion as an afterthought. Christianity (and all relgion) will not go down easily, but eventually, Jesus will join Zeus and Jupiter as a chapter in a childs text book.
Religion is an anachronism. It is not a 'risk' for it to become an afterthought, it is a positive goal. Denominations should not band together, but fade away into the dustbin of history. The us vs. them mentality, circular reasoning called 'faith' and downright violent and racist intent can no longer be tolerated if humankind is to survive.
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