America is Still a Christian Nation, But the Past Seven Years Has Seen Significant Drop

Aleteia ^ | May 13, 2015 | JOHN BURGER

[NYer]

New Evangelization, where art thou?

The Pew Research Center reports that the number of Americans who identify as Christian has fallen sharply, to the tune of nearly eight percentage points in only seven years. 

The survey, carried out in 2014, was the second "Religious Landscape Study" Pew conducted since 2007. Based on the 35,000 people the institute interviewed, the American populace is 21% Catholic. It was 23.9% seven years ago. 

While the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian dropped from 78.4% in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014, non-Christian religions are growing. Islam showed the greatest gains, growing half a percentage point to just under 1% of the population.

And while nuns may be aging and going on to their eternal reward, the "Nones" apparently are on the rise. Since 2007, Pew reports, Americans identifying as having no religion grew from 16% to 23%.

That means 56 million Americans do not observe any religion, making "nones" the second largest community after Evangelicals. 

Nevertheless, America is still largely a Christian nation, with roughly seven-in-ten citizens continuing to identify with some branch of Christianity.

Christianity, especially Catholicism, Pew reports, has been losing more adherents through "religious switching" than it has been gaining. "More than 85% of American adults were raised Christian, but nearly a quarter of those who were raised Christian no longer identify with Christianity," it says. 

Within Christianity the greatest net losses, by far, have been experienced by Catholics. Nearly one-third of American adults (31.7%) say they were raised Catholic. Among that group, fully 41% no longer identify with Catholicism. This means that 12.9% of American adults are former Catholics, while just 2% of U.S. adults have converted to Catholicism from another religious tradition. No other religious group in the survey has such a lopsided ratio of losses to gains.

Though Pew found that the Catholic Church in America has lost almost three percentage points during the seven years since the last survey, it admits that its numbers may be off:

Like mainline Protestants, Catholics appear to be declining both as a percentage of the population and in absolute numbers. The new survey indicates there are about 51 million Catholic adults in the U.S. today, roughly 3 million fewer than in 2007. But taking margins of error into account, the decline in the number of Catholic adults could be as modest as 1 million. And, unlike Protestants, who have been decreasing as a share of the U.S. public for several decades, the Catholic share of the population has been relatively stable over the long term, according to a variety of other surveys.

Pew also found an increasing diversity among religious groups. Racial and ethnic minorities now make up 41% of Catholics, for example, up from 35% in 2007.

Bucking the trends somewhat was the historically black Protestant tradition, which includes the National Baptist Convention, the Church of God in Christ, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Progressive Baptist Convention and others. Pew found that their numbers have remained relatively stable in recent years, at nearly 16 million adults.

"And evangelical Protestants, while declining slightly as a percentage of the U.S. public, probably have grown in absolute numbers as the overall U.S. population has continued to expand," the report said. 

 The BBC notes that non-religious Americans have become increasingly organized since 2007, forming political groups designed to keep religion out of public life.

Kelly Damerow with the Secular Coalition for America tells BBC News that the Pew findings "lend credence to the growth we've witnessed within our community and that we have the potential to hold a lot of political clout." 

[LouAvul]

Any nation that murders ~2 million unborn children each year; any nation that exalts those vile human beings known as homosexuals; any nation that encourages lawlessness such as in Baltimore; sorry, none of those characteristics are Christian and America is not a Christian nation.

Are there Christians living in this country? Definitely. But America is not a Christian nation.

[NYer]

My Definition of “Raised Catholic” and “Raised Protestant”: Parents took children to church when the children were young. “Young” being defined as the years a child is under a parent’s care in being raised, but ending in late teen years.

At one time, that was true. Today, however, sports has replaced Sunday worship. The parents make sure, though, that their children are baptized then return for First Communion. I have also heard "birthday party" as an excuse, as well.

Attending church does not qualify as being raised in the faith. That begins and continues throughout the week, at home.

[Resolute Conservative]

More people are leaving apostate churches not Jesus. Churches that have embraced homosexuality, promiscuity, and turn a blind eye to pedophilia have seen their pews emptying.

[NorthMountain]

If America were a Christian nation in any meaningful sense, we wouldn’t be talking about “President 0bama”. We probably wouldn’t even be talking about “Senator 0bama” or, for that matter, “President McCain” or “President Romney”.

[NYer]

After 9-11 this happened briefly.

There you go. But, once the "all clear" signal sounded and any future threat of attack was removed, life returned to normal. Up until now, the US has been difficult to attack. With the arrival of long range missiles in Korea and the expansion of nuclear arms in the middle east, we are a prime target.

[Codeflier]

beginning? It’s been corrupt for a long time.

[C. Edmund Wright]

true, but by “beginning” - I didn’t mean beginning to get corrupt, I meant beginning to catch up to the corruption of the Pharisees and Saducees of the day.

[Salvation]

That is frightening to me. Yet our Lord said, “Be Not Afraid.”

[Salvation]

You nailed it. If children didn’t continue attending Church in their College years — many dropped Church or were misled.

[Dick Bachert]

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[C. Edmund Wright]

I would be interested to see that join versus leave ratio for Episcopalians, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the Lutherans. I bet when broken out like that, their bleed approaches that of the Catholic Church.

For many of the same reasons....

[RJS1950]

“..and I would add that there are a good number of Christians who no longer go to church, because “organized religion” is beginning to get just as corrupt as “organized religion” was in Jesus’ day.”

I would agree with this premise. The conclusion being reached here is based on how many identify with a Christian denomination. Going to a particular church or denomination does not make anyone “Christian” by itself. Too many denominations have become politicized and too many take on the attitude that you believe as we tell you to believe and live as we tell you to live or you will go to hell. Those who decline this type of affiliation are not necessarily instant agnostics or atheists. Most believe and follow Christian principles in their daily life but do not follow the political winds of some denominations and the strict dogma of others. This poll would have looked very similar from a Catholic church point of view during the reformation.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Too many denominations have become politicized and too many take on the attitude that you believe as we tell you to believe and live as we tell you to live or you will go to hell. Those who decline this type of affiliation are not necessarily instant agnostics or atheists. Most believe and follow Christian principles in their daily life but do not follow the political winds of some denominations and the strict dogma of others.

Okay, since you went there...I'll totally agree with you. Yes, the bleed is caused by the mainline denominations going left, but yes, also by the pharisees and their vitriolic legalism and rules rules rules. I fear a lot of Freepers are in that latter category, so I didn't bring it up. But you are right, that is indeed a factor as well.

[zot]

There is a long-standing pattern of people who were raised in church as children, dropped out in their twenties, and then came back to church later bringing their own children.

[GreyFriar]

I resemble that remark!

[ex-snook]

Schools have something to do with it also. There is the closing of schools because of the cost factor. But also the children than go to Catholic high school or college seems to be missing Catholics. At least this is what I see among my children and grandchildren.

[GreyFriar]

Yes, ‘raising’ must continue at home. But I’m not sure if that is a consideration in how the polling outfit defined as “raised.”

[NKP_Vet]

May 13, 2015

Bill Donohue comments on remarks made last night by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on the Pew Research Center survey of religion:

Here is what O’Reilly said last night: “The main reason Christianity is on the decline is poor leadership and corruption within the Catholic Church. The priest scandal devastated the Catholic landscape in America.”

O’Reilly is not a scholar, and has written nothing on this subject, so he may be forgiven for his misunderstandings. But one does not have to be a social scientist to know that Catholicism is not dispositive of Christianity: In fact, Protestants outnumber Catholics by more than 2-1.

More important, the decline in the mainline Protestant denominations has been going on for a half-century. They are the ones who have been devastated, not the Catholic Church. So blaming the priest scandal for the precipitous drop in the Protestant community is simply absurd. Also, as I pointed out yesterday, the Pew survey showed that Catholicism has the highest retention rate of any religion: 90 percent of those who identify as Catholics today were raised Catholic. Looks like “poor leadership and corruption” didn’t act as a catalyst to bolt.

There are many reasons why Americans are less inclined to be religiously affiliated these days, but not among them are the sources cited by O’Reilly. It is more complex than he realizes.

www.catholicleague.org

[SevenofNine]

I have family friend that was abused by Cathoic priest he sue LA Archidisoe now he is atheist

How about that theory there is growing number of Ex Cathoic in LA area who became another religion just gave up on religion

They feel “hurt” and judgemetial they drop the dime to LAPD on their abuse

[NYer]

Good points. The Church may be perfect but the people who run it are sinners (Matthew 13:30). While this does not justify the abuse he suffered, it is a reminder that we live in an imperfect world. We are all sinners, including the atheists. Perhaps you can explain this to your friend.