More on the passing of Gene Hackman and the United States is much less Christian than in the past, but the falloff may have hit bottom. National Correspondent RORY O’NEILL joins us in telling the story.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on Your Morning show with Michael del Choono.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Roy O'Neil is joining us. The United States is much
less Christian than in the past. There's kind of two
sides to that coin. There's no question Christianity fell off
over a twenty year period sixteen percent, but it is
now leveled off. I don't know that. I wouldn't make
the headline rory Christianity is the falling of Christianity to
America has stopped falling, hasn't risen, but it stopped falling
(00:27):
was kind of what it might take away. But what
was yours?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, right the same and even the Pew Research Center
that conducted this study, and really it's a survey of
thirty six thousand people. Now, people don't realize that's like
twenty times more the size of a polling sample. You're
saying for some presidential poll, thirty six thousand is massive.
And their headline was decline of Christianity in the US
(00:51):
has slowed, may have leveled off. That's how they described it.
In this Religious Landscape study, they find that sixty two
percent of Americans still identif as Christian, about forty percent
of them Protestant, nineteen percent Catholic, but they're seeing more
people who identify as Muslim. For instance, since two thousand
and seven, that number has essentially tripled from zero point
(01:12):
four percent to one point two.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was gonna spare you, because you know you're a
news person, but I'm gonna have a conversation as soon
as we're done on why that number stuck out at me,
and just to give people some food for thought with that.
But to go back to the numbers, overall, in two
thousand and seven, seventy eight percent of US adults identified
as Christians of some sort or another, Catholic, Protestant, what
(01:37):
have you, but christ centered Christian. That was nearly eight
and ten. That was in two thousand and seven. Then
it fell to seventy one percent in twenty fourteen, and
then by twenty that was a sixteen point drop by
twenty fourteen, and then now what we're seeing is a
leveling off sixty two, sixty four, sixty two, So it
(01:59):
has kind of kind of leveled off. But when you
pile through all these numbers, just like everything we see,
even when we're doing political landscapes, younger and that's who's
been targeted with these messages of political correctness or universalism
or moral relativism. The younger numbers are still low, the
older numbers are still high, and of course the older
numbers are dying, so that much is still in place.
(02:24):
I took this though in kind of compared it to
what we're all feeling. There seems to be a cultural shift,
whether you call it a cultural reawakening. The last time
America had a big cultural awakening was in the seventies,
the Hippie movie, the movement that morphed into the Jesus
movement that morphed into a spiritual revival. And you wonder
what the cultural shift if the spiritual shift is coming.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, and you're also seeing more people identify as being
spiritual and not necessarily identifying with a church in particular
a specific Protestant faith or Roman Catholicism or whatever. So
you're seeing a more broader spirituality recognition rather than a church.
And Q finds that since twenty twenty, we have seen
(03:08):
some signs of religious stability across all age demographics.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, and on that note, eighty six percent believe people
have a soul or a spirit in addition to their
physical body, but not a creator, not a god. Not
a place that spirit necessarily goes, but they all still
believe in that. That's the spirituality aspect. Eighty three percent
believe in God or a universal spirit. So this is
the university intelligentsia O Brah Hollywood influence on a culture.
(03:38):
But the numbers are starting to level off. Not so
much of an uptick with the youth though, but.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, and we are seeing a long term decline in Christianity,
much more pronounced among political liberals than among conservatives.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Then we talked about Gene Hackman, somebody who was a
critical of me, saying, you know, why would you assume
there was some kind of a suicide. A dog can't
kill himself, Well, but you could, you know, whatever you chose,
you can do the dog, then do each other. But
it's either going to be we know, no foul play.
But you find Gene Hackman, his much younger wife and
(04:11):
dog all dead. I mean that just screams some kind
of carbon monoxide gas leak or suicide. Usually that's what
that means.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I would say the only phrase that was missing
was we're not searching for any suspects. When the public
information officers use that line, that typically indicates it was
a murder suicide, right, But I didn't see that line
per se. So again, it'll be just a couple of
more hours. We'll get a lot more clarity about the situation.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I appreciate your great report today, Roy O'Neil, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Miss a little, miss a lot, miss a lot, and
we'll miss you. It's your morning show with Michael del Churno.
Previously on Your Morning show with Michael del Choono.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Roy O'Neil is joining us. The United States is much
less Christian than in the past. There's kind of two
sides to that coin. There's no question Christianity fell off
over a twenty year period sixteen percent, but it is
now leveled off. I don't know that. I wouldn't make
the headline rory Christianity is the falling of Christianity to
America has stopped falling, hasn't risen, but it stopped falling
(00:27):
was kind of what it might take away. But what
was yours?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well, right the same and even the Pew Research Center
that conducted this study, and really it's a survey of
thirty six thousand people. Now, people don't realize that's like
twenty times more the size of a polling sample. You're
saying for some presidential poll, thirty six thousand is massive.
And their headline was decline of Christianity in the US
(00:51):
has slowed, may have leveled off. That's how they described it.
In this Religious Landscape study, they find that sixty two
percent of Americans still identif as Christian, about forty percent
of them Protestant, nineteen percent Catholic, but they're seeing more
people who identify as Muslim. For instance, since two thousand
and seven, that number has essentially tripled from zero point
(01:12):
four percent to one point two.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was gonna spare you, because you know you're a
news person, but I'm gonna have a conversation as soon
as we're done on why that number stuck out at me,
and just to give people some food for thought with that.
But to go back to the numbers, overall, in two
thousand and seven, seventy eight percent of US adults identified
as Christians of some sort or another, Catholic, Protestant, what
(01:37):
have you, but christ centered Christian. That was nearly eight
and ten. That was in two thousand and seven. Then
it fell to seventy one percent in twenty fourteen, and
then by twenty that was a sixteen point drop by
twenty fourteen, and then now what we're seeing is a
leveling off sixty two, sixty four, sixty two, So it
(01:59):
has kind of kind of leveled off. But when you
pile through all these numbers, just like everything we see,
even when we're doing political landscapes, younger and that's who's
been targeted with these messages of political correctness or universalism
or moral relativism. The younger numbers are still low, the
older numbers are still high, and of course the older
numbers are dying, so that much is still in place.
(02:24):
I took this though in kind of compared it to
what we're all feeling. There seems to be a cultural shift,
whether you call it a cultural reawakening. The last time
America had a big cultural awakening was in the seventies,
the Hippie movie, the movement that morphed into the Jesus
movement that morphed into a spiritual revival. And you wonder
what the cultural shift if the spiritual shift is coming.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, and you're also seeing more people identify as being
spiritual and not necessarily identifying with a church in particular
a specific Protestant faith or Roman Catholicism or whatever. So
you're seeing a more broader spirituality recognition rather than a church.
And Q finds that since twenty twenty, we have seen
(03:08):
some signs of religious stability across all age demographics.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, and on that note, eighty six percent believe people
have a soul or a spirit in addition to their
physical body, but not a creator, not a god. Not
a place that spirit necessarily goes, but they all still
believe in that. That's the spirituality aspect. Eighty three percent
believe in God or a universal spirit. So this is
the university intelligentsia O Brah Hollywood influence on a culture.
(03:38):
But the numbers are starting to level off. Not so
much of an uptick with the youth though, but.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
No, and we are seeing a long term decline in Christianity,
much more pronounced among political liberals than among conservatives.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Then we talked about Gene Hackman, somebody who was a
critical of me, saying, you know, why would you assume
there was some kind of a suicide. A dog can't
kill himself, Well, but you could, you know, whatever you chose,
you can do the dog, then do each other. But
it's either going to be we know, no foul play.
But you find Gene Hackman, his much younger wife and
(04:11):
dog all dead. I mean that just screams some kind
of carbon monoxide gas leak or suicide. Usually that's what
that means.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I would say the only phrase that was missing
was we're not searching for any suspects. When the public
information officers use that line, that typically indicates it was
a murder suicide, right, But I didn't see that line
per se. So again, it'll be just a couple of
more hours. We'll get a lot more clarity about the situation.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
I appreciate your great report today, Roy O'Neil, thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Miss a little, miss a lot, miss a lot, and
we'll miss you. It's your morning show with Michael del Churno.
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