The Demographic Eclipse of White Christian America

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: THE ATLANTIC

URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/the-eclipse-of-white-christian-america/490724/

by: Robert P. Jones


For most of the country’s history, white Christian America—the cultural and political edifice built primarily by white Protestant Christians—set the tone for our national conversations and shaped American ideals. But today, many white Christian Americans feel profoundly anxious as their numbers and influence are waning.

The two primary branches of their family tree, white mainline and white evangelical Protestants, offer competing narratives about their decline. White mainline Protestants blame evangelical Protestants for turning off the younger generation with their anti-gay rhetoric and tendency to conflate Christianity with conservative, nationalist politics. White evangelical Protestants, on the other hand, blame mainline Protestants for undermining Christianity because of their willingness to sell out traditional beliefs to accommodate contemporary culture.

The key question is not why one white Protestant subgroup is faring worse than another, but why white Protestantism as a whole—arguably the most powerful cultural force in the history of the United States—has faded. The answer is, in part, a matter of powerful demographic changes.

In 2004, the same year that Americans reelected George W. Bush as president, the U.S. Census Bureau made waves by predicting that by 2050 the United States would no longer be a majority-white nation. Four years later, when Americans elected Barack Obama as their first African American head of state, the Census Bureau lowered that threshold year to 2042. When Obama was reelected in 2012, population experts forecasted that by 2060 whites will see their numbers decline for the first time in American history, while the number of people who identify as multiracial will nearly triple and the number of Hispanics and Asians will more than double. Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau, summed up the magnitude of these shifts for The New York Times: “No other country has experienced such rapid racial and ethnic change.”

These racial and ethnic changes are dramatic, but they only partially account for the sense of dislocation many whites feel. In order to understand the magnitude of the shift, it’s important to also assess white Christian America’s waning cultural influence. It’s impossible to grasp the depth of many white Americans’ anxieties and fears—or comprehend recent phenomena like the rise of the Tea Party or Donald Trump in American politics, the zealous tone of the final battles over gay rights, or the racial tensions that have spiked over the last few years—without understanding that, along with its population, America’s religious and cultural landscape is being fundamentally altered.

EXCERPT ONLY, CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST....

[TomSea]

A leftwing Christian doomsayer from what I can tell.

His articles appear in the NY Times, Atlantic and who knows what else.

[jmyrlefuller]

The past quarter century’s religious revolution is almost entirely due to the decline of white Protestants. As recently as 1993, 51 percent of Americans identified as white Protestants, but that percentage dropped to 32 percent by 2014. Meanwhile, the number of black Protestants remained steady at around one in 10 Americans, while Hispanic Protestants gained strength, making up 4 percent of Americans by 2014.

This.

The problem that Christianity faces—especially Protestantism; I'll speak for mainline Protestantism since I'm part of a Methodist congregation—is that it has abandoned white Americans. Look in any newsletter of your typical mainline Protestant denomination. You will seldom see feature articles written about the new rural, small-town church that is growing and thriving—even if they do exist—because that demographic is mostly white. Yet you will see gushing articles about how struggling urban churches opened their doors to foreign immigrants and all of a sudden they began to thrive!

I can't speak for the evangelical denominations, but it would not surprise me if similar problems are in those sects.

All one needs to do is look at rural and suburban America to see how little the church is doing to reach out to these people. We have broken families, out-of-wedlock births, drugs running rampant that used to be city problems, the longstanding plague of alcohol abuse, and so on. Even in the middle class, sins such as homosexual offenses that would have never been tolerated even a decade ago are now embraced!

Although there is truth to the fact that the white population as a whole is not growing as quickly as "minorities," it is also true that the part of the white population that has accepted Jesus and follows Him is shrinking rapidly. The church as a whole NEEDS to address this and not just keep trying to replace the ones they're losing.

[ABX]

I don't care too much about the complexion change as I do the overall American spirit that seems to be declining. Self-sufficiency, doing the right thing because it is right, taking care of your neighbor, entrepreneurship, independence- race and even faith demographics can change, but if we lose those things, we lose who we really are.

[INVAR]

The problem that Christianity faces—especially Protestantism; I'll speak for mainline Protestantism since I'm part of a Methodist congregation—is that it has abandoned white Americans.

Actually, the problem that Christianity faces is that it has abandoned the scriptures and their heritage along with an entire culture to a remade image of Jesus to sate their own desires and impressions.

Yes, the church is shrinking, because it has become lukewarm at best, and stands for nothing but embracing everything antithetical to scripture.

[skeeter]

I don't care too much about the complexion change as I do the overall American spirit that seems to be declining. Self-sufficiency, doing the right thing because it is right, taking care of your neighbor, entrepreneurship, independence- race and even faith demographics can change, but if we lose those things, we lose who we really are.

I fully realize the social risks involved in making the suggestion, but I cannot help but notice that there is a correlation between ethnicity and the tendency to value respect for the sovereignty of the individual.

Maybe someone can explain to me why most, if not all, great movements towards individual liberty occur in the west.

Perhaps it is because Christianity thrives/once thrived here? If so why was the west so receptive to the Christian message while it has had relatively limited success in every other region on the planet?

And this would not explain Greece and Rome.

Just tossing questions out there, not looking to offend anyone.

[jmyrlefuller]

Perhaps it is because Christianity thrives/once thrived here? If so why was the west so receptive to the Christian message while it has had relatively limited success in every other region on the planet?

Just tossing questions out there, not looking to offend anyone.

I have heard that, especially here in America, the separation of church and state saved the church.

In medieval Europe, church and state were joined at the proverbial hip: religion usually meant the state-run church, and the state at the time was usually a monarchy. Then America came around: although we had a few religious states (Massachusetts being Puritan, for example), we rejected an idea of a state-run religion. We allowed churches free reign, but they did not represent the republic.

When the republican form of government started reaching places like Europe, the church became a symbol of the outdated old monarchy; as a result, not just the church was rejected, but the whole notion of religion. The idea of various denominations to fit the needs of individual communities simply did not exist in Europe. Note how many of the most vitriolic atheists are British: Ricky Gervais, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, and so on.

America has been unique in the fact that the church was not corrupted by government: it received the Word in as pure of a form as it could come. That, I suspect, is why Christianity has been so popular here compared to the rest of the world.

[WAC]

Generally I take anything from the Atlantic with a grain of salt.....that article as well....As far as the church is concerned there are various

reasons it's not thriving as we once knew... But  considering we were told there would come a time when sound doctrine would not be

heard, ...that there will be a falling away, ....it should not be surprising when we see this happening. The reasons are not as significant as

the fact is we knew this was coming....and again the scriptures prove themselves true.


However the message is going out in other nations with vasts numbers coming to Christ....pretty rapidly.....I think our nations peoples,

for the most part, are simply dull of hearing....and many simply aren't interested at all.....and perhaps it is as it's meant to be.  This

nation certainly isn't putting out a welcome mat for the things of God, in fact hot at removing Him with only lip service, while they deny

the very power of which it comes..... But then we were told this also would come.


I do believe quite possible that though Trump may not be the ideal we have had in our minds for a President....the fact that he is a

nationalist....that this country has to come first.....does make sense in light of the fact we have so many in politics who are involved with

the push for international Governance of all nations......I'm not so sure we'll be a part of what's coming over there and could be we

need to pull away.  ......I do ponder this often.