Posted on 10/09/2012 3:08:34 AM PDT by markomalley
For the first time in its history, the United States does not have a Protestant majority, according to a new study. One reason: The number of Americans with no religious affiliation is on the rise.
The percentage of Protestant adults in the U.S. has reached a low of 48 percent, the first time that Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has reported with certainty that the number has fallen below 50 percent. The drop has long been anticipated and comes at a time when no Protestants are on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republicans have their first presidential ticket with no Protestant nominees.
Among the reasons for the change are the growth in nondenominational Christians who can no longer be categorized as Protestant, and a spike in the number of American adults who say they have no religion. The Pew study, released Tuesday, found that about 20 percent of Americans say they have no religious affiliation, an increase from 15 percent in the last five years.
Scholars have long debated whether people who say they no longer belong to a religious group should be considered secular. While the category as defined by Pew researchers includes atheists, it also encompasses majorities of people who say they believe in God, and a notable minority who pray daily or consider themselves "spiritual" but not "religious." Still, Pew found overall that most of the unaffiliated aren't actively seeking another religious home, indicating that their ties with organized religion are permanently broken.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
The only people who obsess over it are Catholics and apparently the AP.
How about splitting it thusly: Catholic Christian and nonCatholic Christian?
Take the chart for a spin under those auspices.
“Reformed/Protestant” (16th century, those that trace denominational and creedal roots back to the Reformation),
“Evangelical” (17th century, like xzins’ Wesleyans/Methodists or the Baptists, largely anabaptist, that arose after the Reformed groups);
This represents serious scholastic error.
Anabaptists go back just as far as Luther. Menno Simons was the forunner for the anabaptists. The Baptists broke away from them in the US over the issue of pacifism.
Methodists are an offshoot of Anglicanism.
See post #19. Alex Murphy would probably disagree with you.
Anabaptists go back just as far as Luther.
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Actually Anabaptists go back way before Luther...
Oh, I think there would be a few million Orthodox who would probably not agree with that division.
Where would you classify Jehovah's Witnesses? Mormons? Oneness Pentecostals? (Catholics don't consider any of them as Christian at all...because of the rejection of the Trinity as defined by the First Council of Nicea...not sure about "non-Catholic Christians" though)
A lot of the unaffiliated left their Protestant denomination because it was taken over by anti-Christian Communists poising as faux Christians. The did not find a new church home. The Episcopal Church — or, in reality, the Episcopagan Church — comes to mind. Once 4 million, it’s down to less than 1 million in church every Sunday and will be extinct in a generation. If they had remained faithfuyl and kept their share of the population, they should be up to 8 to 10 million.
Where are the many nondenominational churches in all this tally?
Alex, ping to #22 (JCB disagreed with you...thought it would be polite to ping you to that post)
“But seriously, it’s an interesting gimmick, peeling off nondenominational Christians to get the crowing headline.”
Precisely. Nondenominationals have been growing while the denominational churches are in decline. People don’t follow denominational labels like they used to, and usually choose a church based on that church alone rather than the affiliation of the church. I wish people were more aware that doctrinal differences *matter*, but too many Christians have a shallow belief system.
The vast majority of non-denoms are Protestant.
Then I’ll stick to my Calvinist roots for my Huguenot ancestors...
I was raised an Anglican and the Creeds are important to me...
TULIP
If Menno Simons wasn’t the founder - then who do you consider to be the founder? Simons was younger than Luther.
He’s welcome to disagree, but he’s very wrong wrt the anabaptists.
I encourage you to read the depositions at Trent. Some of them talk about the Anabaptists.
Interesting posts!
Thanks. The reason for me to post this piece was not to start (yet another) fight between Catholics and Protestants or a fight among Protestants.
I think the fact that the number of people who are leaving Christianity is a very disturbing trend. And, while your congregation or my congregation may be healthy and growing, there can be little doubt that more and more Americans are abandoning Christianity altogether.
That has horrible impacts, not only for the salvation of their souls, but for the overall cultural and political climate for the US, including for those of us who haven't and won't.
I just regret that some don't see that and prefer to snipe.
It appears that it is simply a matter of definitions. If one were to actually label only those from reformation “protesting” denominations as protestants, then “protestants” would have not been a majority for a long, long time.
As long as one labels protestant as pretty much anything that is Christian but isn’t also Catholic, then protestants are still in the majority.
The problem, of course, with any group that “starts itself” is that it isn’t connected to a demonstrably historic lineage that goes back to Christ.
I'm married to a Catholic. We are "non-denominational" Christians.
As Christians, regardless of denomination, we must all hang together, or for certain, as history teaches, we will certainly hang apart.
Agreed. And it is not only a matter of secular people classifying groups. If I'm not mistaken, there is a whole group of Baptists who would bristle at the thought of being considered "Protestant."
The key point from this study is that those who either question or absolutely do not believe in the existence of God is growing. And that should concern all of us.
There are many people that lead good moral lives and certainly many inspirational leaders. The positive moral community is good for America. America is open to all beliefs.
I still choose to belong to the Catholic Church that Jesus founded and receive Him in the Eucharist. The Catholic Church is welcoming to all and is trying to follow their mission to bring all to the glory of God in Heaven.
Peace be with you.
When was that? In 1307? Don't believe Columbus was alive then. And I am not Catholic.
“As Christians, regardless of denomination, we must all hang together, or for certain, as history teaches, we will certainly hang apart.”
Amen, amen, amen.
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