‘Growing numbers’ rejecting organized religion

The share of Americans who identify as white and Christian has dropped below 50 per cent, a transformation fueled by immigration and by growing numbers of people who reject organized religion altogether, according to a new survey released this week.

Christians overall remain a large majority in the U.S., at nearly 70 per cent of Americans. However, white Christians, once predominant in the country’s religious life, now comprise only 43 per cent of the population, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, or PRRI, a polling organization based in Washington. Four decades ago, about eight in 10 Americans were white Christians.

The change has occurred across the spectrum of Christian traditions in the U.S., including sharp drops in membership in predominantly white mainline Protestant denominations such as Presbyterians and Lutherans; an increasing Latino presence in the Roman Catholic Church as some non-Hispanic white Catholics leave; and shrinking ranks of white evangelicals, who until recently had been viewed as immune to decline.

The trends identified in the survey are fueling anxiety about the place of Christians in society, especially among evangelicals, alarmed by support for gay marriage and by the increasing share of Americans - about onequarter - who don’t identify with a faith group. President Donald Trump, who repeatedly promised to protect the religious liberty of Christians, drew 80 per cent of votes by white evangelicals, a constituency that remains among his strongest supporters.

About 17 per cent of Americans now identify as white evangelical, compared to 23 per cent a decade ago, according to the survey. Membership in the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant group, dropped to 15.2 million last year, its lowest number since 1990, according to an analysis by Chuck Kelley, president of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

“So often, white evangelicals have been pointing in judgment to white mainline groups, saying when you have liberal theology you decline,” said Robert Jones, chief executive of PRRI. “I think this data really does challenge that interpretation of linking theological conservatism and growth.”