I’m sure it won’t come as any surprise to you that America is becoming less of a Christian nation:
CBS DC – A new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life finds that atheists, agnostics, and those claiming “nothing in particular” now compose 22.8 percent of the U.S. population. While America is still home to more Christians than any other country in the world, the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any faith – labeled by some as the religious “nones” – jumped nearly 7 percentage points in as many years.
Although the sharp decline in Christian affiliation is most pronounced among young U.S. adults, the same trend is occurring among whites, blacks, Latinos, men, women, college graduates and those with only a high school education.
Declines in Christianity have been driven primarily by a large drop in mainline Protestants and Catholics. However, American Christians have become increasingly more diverse, with racial and ethnic minorities now making up 41 percent of Catholics (up from 35 percent in 2007), one-quarter of evangelical Protestants (up from 19 percent) and 14 percent of mainline Protestants.
The new major survey of 35,000 Americans from the Pew Research Center finds that the percentage of U.S. adults who describe themselves as Christian has declined by nearly eight percentage points in the past seven years – from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent in 2014. During that same period religiously unaffiliated Americans increased from 16.1 percent to 22.8 percent.
I know some of you don’t think we are nearing the end, but many of you do, including myself, so I thought it would be fitting to share the first few verses of 2 Thessalonians 2 with you:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
I’m not suggesting that Bible prophecy revolves around the US, because it doesn’t. However this falling away, whether it be apostasy to Islam or Atheism, is becoming more prevalent in the world and the US is emblematic of that.
Even a poll done last month suggests that only 56% of Americans consider themselves religious:
Just 30 percent of citizens of the UK consider themselves religious, while 70 percent of Russians and 56 percent of Americans describe themselves in the same way. China is followed by Hong Kong and Japan, with 34 percent and 31 percent of their citizens claiming to be atheists, respectively.
It’s one thing to identify as Christian. It’s another to identify as ‘religious’, which is why the percentage is smaller. I suspect most of that number is Christianity, with only a very small percentage going to other faiths.
But if you think America is bad, just check out Israel:
In Israel, 65 percent of those surveyed said they are either not religious or are atheists, compared to just 30 percent who say they are religious.
Out of that 30% only a very small number will be Christian, as most are Judaism.