Is America still a Christian nation?
I think it’s fair to ask if America ever was a Christian nation but that’s not the topic of this article.
Instead of a discussion about the origin of the nation or about the heart and character of our nation, I want to talk about religious facts we can glean. Many organizations collect data and do surveys among the citizens of America. I have found the company, Barna, does excellent work in finding information on subjects just like this. Churches and individuals can use this information to get a pulse of the nation. From the Christian point of view, one might suggest the nation is getting sicker if it’s drifting away from the teaching of the Bible. From a nonreligious point of view, many might suggest the nation is drifting toward being more inclusive.
America adrift?
I’ll let you decide which direction we are drifting but below you’ll find some examples of that drift.
All quotes are taken from this article, “The state of the church 2016”.
The Christian church has been a cornerstone of American life for centuries, but much has changed in the last 30 years. Americans are attending church less, and more people are experiencing and practicing their faith outside of its four walls. Millennials, in particular, are coming of age at a time of great skepticism and cynicism toward institutions—particularly the church.
A Secular Trend
Add to this the broader secularizing trend in American culture, and growing antagonism toward faith claims, and these are uncertain times for the U.S. church. Based on a large pool of data collected over the course of this year, Barna conducted an analysis of the state of the church, looking closely at affiliation, attendance and practice to determine the overall health of Christ’s Body in America.
Most Americans Identify as Christian
Debates continue to rage over whether the United States is a “Christian” nation. Some believe the Constitution gives special treatment or preference to Christianity, but others make their claims based on sheer numbers—and they have a point: Most people in this country identify as Christian.
Most are still Christian
Almost three-quarters of Americans (73%) say they are Christian, while only one-fifth (20%) claim no faith at all (that includes atheists and agnostics). A fraction (6%) identify with faiths like Islam, Buddhism, Judaism or Hinduism, and 1 percent are unsure. Not only do most Americans identify as Christian, but a similar percentage (73%) also agree that religious faith is very important in their life (52% strongly agree + 21% somewhat agree).
There Are More Churched Than Unchurched Americans
Digging deeper into church attendance, Barna uses another metric to distinguish between two main groups: those who are “churched” versus those who are “unchurched.” Churched adults are active churchgoers who have attended a church service—with varying frequency—within the past six months (not including a special event such as a wedding or a funeral).
Who are the unchurched?
Unchurched adults, on the other hand, have not attended a service in the past six months. (They may be de-churched, meaning they once attended regularly, or purely unchurched, meaning they have never been involved in a Christian faith community.) Under these definitions, a slight majority of adults (55%) are churched—though the country is almost evenly split, with 45 percent qualifying as unchurched adults.
Christians Are More Generous Than Their Secular Peers
In Matthew 6, Jesus lays out three essential components of discipleship: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The latter of the three, which we might also call justice and personal charity, is one of the pillars of a healthy spiritual life. Though residents in some cities are more generous than others, Americans give to churches more than any nonprofit organization.
Most of us are givers
More than half of Americans (54%) have given money to a church in the past year—half that number have given to a nonprofit other than a church (22%). The remaining one-quarter (24%) have given to neither. Unsurprisingly almost all practicing Christians (94%) have given to a church, compared to one-quarter (23%) of atheists or agnostics. In fact, practicing Christians tend to be more generous overall than their secular counterparts: 96 percent of practicing Christians gave to a church or a nonprofit, compared to 60 percent among atheists and agnostics.
Evangelicals Are a Small but Influential Group
Classifications and metrics are vital to understanding the religious makeup of the United States. The Barna organization used several of these to identify key faith groups in America. Those include “born again Christians,” “evangelical Christians” and those who are “Bible-minded.” The largest of these three groups are born again Christians. They make up roughly one-third of the population (35%).
A commitment to Jesus
These individuals have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and believe that, when they die, they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. The next largest group are those considered Bible-minded, who make up about one-quarter of the population (23%). They believe the Bible is accurate in all the principles it teaches and has read the Scriptures within the past week. Finally, the small (7%) but influential group of evangelicals are those who meet the born again criteria plus seven other conditions (detailed below), which are made up of a set of doctrinal views that touch on topics like evangelism, Satan, biblical inerrancy, and salvation.
Is America still a Christian Nation?
Is America a Christian nation? If you are just counting numbers I would have to say yes. If you want to ask if we act like Christians probably not. The best model of Christianity is Jesus. Do the citizens of our country act as Jesus did? Are we treating others the way we like others to treat us?
Just a prayer away
No! We are not Christian in that way. Far from that. Was God’s hand on the young nation when our forefathers struggled, fought, and died for freedom. Yes, most certainly God’s hand was there. Has God taken his hand away now that many of our citizens are departing the Christian faith and choosing other directions? I would say probably so. The Lord is still as close as a sincere prayer by a humble believer. But the numbers of sincere believers are growing fewer every year. The nation is drifting away from biblical truth. We are nearly gone–lost in a sea of depravity.
Other articles you might like:
An interesting read on a fascinating subject.
Let me know what you think.