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Just 43% of Americans Identify as Protestant

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
 

Secret Chief

nirvana is samsara
I think it's usually suggested education level affects religiosity.
Also from Pew:
"Looking at the U.S. public as a whole, however, the answer to the question of whether more education is correlated with less religion appears to be yes. Among all U.S. adults, college graduates are considerably less likely than those who have less education to say religion is “very important” in their lives: Fewer than half of college graduates (46%) say this, compared with nearly six-in-ten of those with no more than a high school education (58%).

Highly educated Americans also are less inclined than others to say they believe in God with absolute certainty and to pray on a daily basis. And, when asked about their religious identity, college graduates are more likely than others to describe themselves as atheists or agnostics (11% of college grads vs. 4% of U.S. adults with a high school education or less)."

In America, Does More Education Equal Less Religion?
 

Batya

Always Forward
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
This is no surprise to me at all. Yeshua said it was a narrow path, so that implies that there would not necessarily be a huge following. Also, in Thessalonians 2, it says that there will be a great falling away before Yeshua's return, so... there you go.
If it's fading away, it's the people's choice, He's given us free will, and to "intervene" would take away from that free will, I feel. God's not concerned, there will always be a remnant.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
Christianity was probably never meant to be a mass religion in the first place. It functions more like a initiatory mystery religion, the more ancient it is in terms of tradition. Becoming a popular religion of the masses and institutionalized caused it to dump Jesus' purported teachings in the garbage (you really think Jesus blesses soldiers and weapons?!). Most people around the world who are Christian, if they didn't convert to it by choice, were pretty much forced into it by family or cultural tradition and it spread throughout the world by imperialism and colonialism, if not outright genocide. So maybe this is a chance for Christianity to revive itself, become more about true belief and practice, and not mere social convention.
 
Last edited:

George-ananda

Advaita Vedanta, Theosophy, Spiritualism
Premium Member
Actually 43% strikes me as high actually. Most of those are only minimally associated with anything reigious.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
Because I think we are evolving onto the next and higher step up the ladder to more inclusive and Eastern (Buddhist/Hindu) thought and 'spiritual but not religious'. Christianity had a good run and served its purpose for many.
 

John D. Brey

Well-Known Member
So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

. . . Uh . . . um . . . excuse me . . . but, uh, are you aware that God allowed Jesus to bleed to death without intervening? And, uh, notwithstanding the fact that Jesus hemorrhaged and bled to death on the cross, he (Jesus) "miraculously" gave birth to more offspring, by orders of magnitude, than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even though they pulled a three man tag team on him and not one of them bled to death. Furthermore, the three of them got better than a thousand year head start.

So you see God works in miraculous and mysterious ways. Worry not your little self. It's all under control. Believe that.



John
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
I think it's usually suggested education level affects religiosity.
Also from Pew:
"Looking at the U.S. public as a whole, however, the answer to the question of whether more education is correlated with less religion appears to be yes. Among all U.S. adults, college graduates are considerably less likely than those who have less education to say religion is “very important” in their lives: Fewer than half of college graduates (46%) say this, compared with nearly six-in-ten of those with no more than a high school education (58%).

Highly educated Americans also are less inclined than others to say they believe in God with absolute certainty and to pray on a daily basis. And, when asked about their religious identity, college graduates are more likely than others to describe themselves as atheists or agnostics (11% of college grads vs. 4% of U.S. adults with a high school education or less)."

In America, Does More Education Equal Less Religion?

Yes, you're right. Education does play a huge, probably the chief reason why Americans and Europeans are leaving religions, particularly Christianity in droves. I am a perfect example. I was a Christian for 60 years and it was only when the Internet allowed me to investigate Christianity's nefarious beginnings that I said, "Nope, no more".

But my broader question is not why it's happening (which is the Internet/education) but why God is not doing anything to stop it.

Doesn't God care?
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
This is no surprise to me at all. Yeshua said it was a narrow path, so that implies that there would not necessarily be a huge following. Also, in Thessalonians 2, it says that there will be a great falling away before Yeshua's return, so... there you go.
If it's fading away, it's the people's choice, He's given us free will, and to "intervene" would take away from that free will, I feel. God's not concerned, there will always be a remnant.

Yes, but all these deserters will lose their salvation and go to hell. Doesn't God care about that?
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
Christianity was probably never meant to be a mass religion in the first place. It functions more like a initiatory mystery religion, the more ancient it is in terms of tradition. Becoming a popular religion of the masses and institutionalized caused it to dump Jesus' purported teachings in the garbage (you really think Jesus blesses soldiers and weapons?!). Most people around the world who are Christian, if they didn't convert to it by choice, were pretty much forced into it by family or cultural tradition and it spread throughout the world by imperialism and colonialism, if not outright genocide. So maybe this is a chance for Christianity to revive itself, become more about true belief and practice, and not mere social convention.

Unless God intervenes miraculously to save Christianity, there is no hope for it.
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
Actually 43% strikes me as high actually. Most of those are only minimally associated with anything reigious.


Because I think we are evolving onto the next and higher step up the ladder to more inclusive and Eastern (Buddhist/Hindu) thought and 'spiritual but not religious'. Christianity had a good run and served its purpose for many.


I agree. 2000 years is a good run. But from a Christian's perspective one has to wonder, "Did God send his son to die for us just so that Christianity could have a good run for 2000 years and then go obsolete?" That's what appears to be happening. Jesus' sacrifice is going obsolete. Whoulda thunk?
 

Kenny

Face to face with my Father
Premium Member
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
In my view, there is some things we can learn from history (even Jewish history).

Man has free will. But when things go downhill (as they are now) - people start prayer and then God DOES intervene... because man has asked Him after repenting.

The Great Awakening with Jonathon Edwards 1734-1743
The Second Great awakening with Charles Finney, James McGready
The Businessmen’s Revival of 1857-1858 with Jeremiah Lanphier,
The Civil War Revival, 1861-1865
The Urban Revivals, 1875-1885. with Dwight L. Moody
The Revivals of 1904-1906. the Welsh Revival and Billy Sunday
The Azusa Street Revival, 1906.with William J. Seymour

And another in the 1940's and 50's

All of these caused hundreds of thousands and sometimes million to become believers changing the course of faith.

So, since we can't predict the future, we can say that God isn't finished.
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
. . . Uh . . . um . . . excuse me . . . but, uh, are you aware that God allowed Jesus to bleed to death without intervening? And, uh, notwithstanding the fact that Jesus hemorrhaged and bled to death on the cross, he (Jesus) "miraculously" gave birth to more offspring, by orders of magnitude, than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even though they pulled a three man tag team on him and not one of them bled to death. Furthermore, the three of them got better than a thousand year head start.

So you see God works in miraculous and mysterious ways. Worry not your little self. It's all under control. Believe that.



John
uhhh....God allowed his son to bleed to death so all of mankind could be saved. Now that sacrifice is being thrown away by the hundreds of millions of people either walking away from Jesus' sacrifice or just saying, "Not interested".

Will God allow his son to bleed to death on a cross for nothing?
 

Colt

Well-Known Member
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????

Maybe after the coming WWIII humans will hit bottom again and turn back to faith. Right now mankind feels it doesn't need God.
 

SeekingAllTruth

Well-Known Member
In my view, there is some things we can learn from history (even Jewish history).

Man has free will. But when things go downhill (as they are now) - people start prayer and then God DOES intervene... because man has asked Him after repenting.

The Great Awakening with Jonathon Edwards 1734-1743
The Second Great awakening with Charles Finney, James McGready
The Businessmen’s Revival of 1857-1858 with Jeremiah Lanphier,
The Civil War Revival, 1861-1865
The Urban Revivals, 1875-1885. with Dwight L. Moody
The Revivals of 1904-1906
. the Welsh Revival and Billy Sunday
The Azusa Street Revival, 1906.with William J. Seymour

And another in the 1940's and 50's

All of these caused hundreds of thousands and sometimes million to become believers changing the course of faith.

So, since we can't predict the future, we can say that God isn't finished.
Big difference between then and now is that people are much more educated now then they were. The poll and other posters did point out that education is the chief culprit to people losing their faith. That's a genie that cannot be put back into the bottle. So I doubt any great revivals are in the works because it's very difficult if not impossible to change an educated person's mind. Only a powerful miracle that is unmistakably from the Christian god will change minds.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
According to a recent (2019) Pew poll. Pew is one of the most respected polls in America so there's no reason to doubt their finds. Other findings:

* 65% of American adults identified as Christians, DOWN 12% from 2009

* atheist, agnostic or “nones" now stands at 26%, UP from 17% in 2009.

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

Extrapolating outward at 12% per decade that means that in 2070 only 5% of Americans will identify as Protestant.

Truthfully, I was shocked by these statistics. And I have mentioned them to a number of Christians on this board. They seem to be glib on the matter, not really caring from all appearances that their faith is dying on the vine. One member went so far as to question the reliability of any poll that showed Christianity in a negative light. They asked question like, "What specific questions were asked, how did the pollsters ask the question, were they broad or specific in their questions, what kinds of question did they ask, how broad was the sampling, and on and on....a veritable feast of red herring to distract from the very simple finding that Christianity is on the way out in America, following Europe's even more stark downward trend.

So I have to ask a few direct questions:

Why is God allowing his faith to bleed to death? Why doesn't God intervene in some miraculous way to stop the hemorrhaging of Christians away from Jesus?

One mighty visible miracle from God could stop people from leaving Christianity. All God has to do is speak up audibly like he did on Mt. Sinai. If he did it then he can do it again.

Why Doesn't God Intervene?????
People are just waking up and realizing that having a belief alone simply isn't enough anymore.
 

Shaul

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Four of the most specious words in combination are “if current trends continue”.
 
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