Newsweek Front Page Story: The Decline and Fall of a Christian Nation

Below are some quotes from the lead article:

...the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 percentage points since 1990, from 86 to 76 percent.
While we remain a nation decisively shaped by religious faith, our politics and our culture are, in the main, less influenced by movements and arguments of an explicitly Christian character than they were even five years ago. I think this is a good thing—good for our political culture, which, as the American Founders saw, is complex and charged enough without attempting to compel or coerce religious belief or observance. It is good for Christianity, too, in that many Christians are rediscovering the virtues of a separation of church and state that protects what Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious dissenters, called "the garden of the church" from "the wilderness of the world."
Still, in the new NEWSWEEK Poll, fewer people now think of the United States as a "Christian nation" than did so when George W. Bush was president (62 percent in 2009 versus 69 percent in 2008). Two thirds of the public (68 percent) now say religion is "losing influence" in American society, while just 19 percent say religion's influence is on the rise. The proportion of Americans who think religion "can answer all or most of today's problems" is now at a historic low of 48 percent. During the Bush 43 and Clinton years, that figure never dropped below 58 percent.
Here's the Link

7 comments:

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

ahaaha you are gloating over old news.

Yea, athiests are at 1.6% according to Pew, and we are down to 76% o yea it's the fall of Christianity already.

you got us surrounded!

just the other night I ask a pastor friend of mine why she thought what I'm doing on the net is crap. she said "atheists just aren't important enough. I never meet any and they have no influence in teh media."

I pointed out all the new atheist stuff Dawkins and all, she said they are novelties so reporters looking for stories talk about them, but no one listens to them (she had been a reporter so she know how the press works).

Look at how Obama refused to cave in to them at the inauguration. If they had any influence at all he would caved in to them.

Scott said...

J.L,

Perhaps you need to hear it straight from the horse's mouth?

Obama: ...And I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is -- although as I mentioned, we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.

Transcript: Obama and President Gul of Turkey press conference.

Teleprompter said...

J.L. Hinman,

This is exactly why Dawkins' and Harris' work is so critically important:

"I never meet any and they have no influence in teh media."

Too many are afraid of identifying as non-religious.

However, we exist. And 1.6%? Please. Did you see the recently released ARIS survey? It's much higher than that.

Besides, the number does not mean anything for whether it is true.

There are a lot of Muslims in the world, but I've never heard you argue for Islam. Perhaps if we were in Pakistan, you'd be telling me that I am surrounded there, too!

P.S. - I think it is cool that John's word verification is "begat". ;)

Samphire said...

"you got us surrounded!"

Maybe not in numbers- yet- but certainly in arguments.

Gandolf said...

Its with the youth of today and tomorrow that in future we will most likely see the most changes happening.

Old dogs dont really learn new tricks so easily so they say.

Dawkins might very well be little to worry about but still his site has around 57156 members so far already and a very big percentage of them being atheist youth many specially being from the U.S.A.

Time will tell though wont it.

Joes friend might be very well be right but then they could just as easily have been very wrong also.

Smart move i guess made by christians once again in being complacent allowing plenty of room to Possibly under estimate matters

I personally say what joes tells us about his friend, is actually quite good news to be hearing.

Jeff said...

J.L,

The number of self-identified atheists has been increasing exponentially in a very short time. This is occurring even in the absence of any dogma, organized conversion strategies, or communal gatherings (well there are some of those, but they are few and far between). Can you imagine if we had those things - or perhaps an Inquisition to help us along? I don't think you should write off the stats so quickly - expect the number to grow by leaps and bounds in the next few years.

Sarah Schoonmaker said...

I have an interesting discussion going on at my blog regarding this article: schoonmaker.wordpress.com, so feel free to weigh in. So far, I have a Catholic, Christian, and Atheist dialoging.