The Demise of the Decline

How do we stop the movement away from Christianity in this country? Janet Parshall will answer that question in this week’s commentary.

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Episode Transcript

S1 (00:01):
We've all heard reports of the decline of the numbers
of people who identify as Christian, but a survey from
one of America's biggest polling organizations says there is some
good news here.

S2 (00:12):
To unpack present day issues from a biblical perspective is
Janet Parshall.

S1 (00:17):
According to the Pew Research Center, the Religious Landscape Study
is the largest single survey the center conducts, aiming to
provide authoritative figures on the size of U.S. religious groups.
What they found was that the Christian share of the population,
after years of decline, has been relatively stable since 2019,
and the religiously unaffiliated population, after rising rapidly for decades,

(00:39):
has leveled off, at least temporarily. Now that's good news.
Pew identified current religious identifications in America, as 62% of U.S.
adults describe themselves as Christian, 40% are Protestant, 19% Catholic, 3%
Other Christian, 29% are religiously unaffiliated, 5% are atheists, 6%
are agnostic, and 19% identify religiously as nothing. In particular, 7%

(01:04):
belong to religions other than Christianity, 2% are Jewish, 1%
each are Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. The URLs revealed what
religious practices look like in America. 44% of American adults
say they pray at least once a day, down significantly
since 2007. This is held between 44 and 46% since 2021. 33%

(01:25):
say they go to religious services at least once a
month since 2020. The percentages have consistently hovered in the
low 30s. The study also noted that the majority of
Americans are spiritual. For example, 86% believe people have a
soul or spirit in addition to their physical body. 83%
believe in God or a universal spirit. 79% believe there's
something spiritual beyond the natural world. 70% believe in heaven, hell,

(01:49):
or both. Pew also found that all three major strands
of Protestantism have declined in percentage terms since 2007. Evangelical
Protestants now make up 23% of U.S. adults, down from 26%.
Mainline Protestants account for 11% of U.S. adults, down from 18%.
Members of historically black Protestant churches make up 5% of U.S. adults,

(02:10):
down from 7%. But importantly, the share of Americans who
identify with non-denominational Protestantism is growing. What's most significant for
those who obediently will go and tell is that Pew
noted one driver of the long term trend is generational replacement. Older,
highly religious, heavily Christian generations are passing away. The younger

(02:30):
generation succeeding them are much less religious. With smaller percentages
of Christians and more nones. Discipleship is more crucial now
than ever before, training our children in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord with clear teaching on not just
what we believe, but why we believe. It is the
only way to permanently end the decline of Christianity in
this country. Those are my thoughts. I'm Janet Parshall.

S2 (02:53):
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In the market with Janet Parshall. Aug.