[mugs99]

my family's geneaology very closely

I do the same, Selkie. The number I posted is historical fact, from a credible source, not records from family or church. If you go by the records ministers sent back to England, everyone was Christian. If I were to use my family for a source, the only Christians were the tyrants who worked for the King.
I have to go with the expert on Christianity in early America, Rodney Stark.

[Selkie]

The Christians were all tyrants doing the King's biding ? LOL

Washington University Professor of Sociology and Comparative Religion Rodney Stark used Church records and Census data to come up with his findings. His book, "The Churching of America" based the 17% figure on narrowly defined data of church attendance. Stark is an atheist and I find this source cited a lot on atheism websites.

"Church membership" is a very iffy proxy for belief, particularly early on in America when it was difficult for many to get to church. But "membership" is not the issue. Belief is>