Plan B Forum

The number of Americans who identify as Christian has fallen nearly eight percentage points in only seven years, according to a new survey.

Pew Research Center found that 71% of Americans identified as Christian in 2014 - down from 78% in 2007. In the same period, Americans identifying as having no religion grew from 16% to 23%. Fifty-six million Americans do not observe any religion, the second largest community after Evangelicals.



The United States still remains home to more Christians than any other nation, with roughly seven-in-ten continuing to identify with some branch of Christianity. In 2007 and then again in 2014, Pew conducted the "Religious Landscape Study", interviewing 35,000 people each time.

Pew researchers say the losses they discovered were driven mainly by a decrease among liberal Protestants and Catholics and occurred in all regions of the US and among all ages and demographics. About 5 million less Americans now identify as Christian compared to when the study was conducted in 2007. In the South, those not-affiliated with religion - or as the researchers call them, "nones" - rose to 19% of the population, while in the Northeast they climbed to 25%. In the West "nones" are a larger group than any religion, making up 28% of the public.

Christians in the US

Americans who identify as Christian: 70.6%
Protestant faiths: 46.5%
Evangelical: 25.4%
Catholic: 20.8%
Mainline or liberal: 14.7%
Mormon: 1.6%
Jehovah's Witness: 0.8%
Identify as Other Christians: 0.4%
Source: Pew Research Center

"I suppose you should have figured that making the brand selfish, mean, and political might have unintended consequences to its marketing."

– Jesus, in His most insufferably correct I-told-you-so so far this week.

rubato wrote:I've always thought that religious affiliation should be measured by something more substantial than mere affirmation.

If you don't go to services more often than not, pay tithes and offerings for the support of the church and to charities, and make the other required sacrifices then you don't count as a member of that religion.


yrs,
rubato

Big RR wrote:No rubato, on the one hand we are talking about being a member of something, not a term in a vacuum. If you want to be a freemason, you must meet the requirements of being a freemasonry as defined by that organization; ditto for a boy scout, eagle scout or whatever. Sacrifice has nothing to do with it, nor does behavior, unless the organization prescribes it as a condition of membership. So if one calls oneself Lutheran or episcopalean, they are claiming to be members of those organizations. If you feel that's meaningless, that's your prerogative.

On the other hand, we are discussing beliefs; broad generic terms like Christian or Buddhist encompass a wide array of beliefs and people can claim to be believers of followers of the philosophies and tenets of the faith without being the member of any group the sets specific requirements. But again, I fail to see how you, who profess to be a nonbeliever, can have anything to say about what a person must say or do to sufficiently document their beliefs to be called believers. I don't speak a word of Greek and would never tell a person claiming to speak Greek how to speak the language; how you can have the audacity to tell a person who claims a faith and belief how to manifest it makes about as much sense as me instructing a Greek speaker on the finer points of their language.

Again, if you think their belief is meaningless to you, well that's your prerogative.

A little less booze before posting?

bigskygal wrote:No, he's saying that Christianity - esp. Protestantism - requires acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Lord & savior and nothing else; failure to attend church is between you and God and many people of faith prefer to commune with God apart from organized religious service.

if being a Christian does not mean that ones behavior is different then being a Christian means nothing.

wesw wrote:wherever two or three gather, in my name....

that s all it takes , according to jesus

"being a freemasonry" ? the rest of your post is just as garbled. A little less booze before posting?

If you don't go to services more often than not, pay tithes and offerings for the support of the church and to charities, and make the other required sacrifices then you don't count as a member of that religion.