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Christianity in the US projected to lose majority status by 2070

Orbit

I'm a planet
Pew Research Center, which is known for its non-partisan research on religion, has used statistical methods to project that by 2070 Christians will no longer be a majority in the U.S. They describe four possible scenarios and all of them predict a decline in Christianity. This all assumes that the statistical trends will continue. Do you think the trend will continue, or will something happen that reverses it?

Article here, no paywall. Modeling the Future of Religion in America
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
Pew Research Center, which is known for its non-partisan research on religion, has used statistical methods to project that by 2070 Christians will no longer be a majority in the U.S. They describe four possible scenarios and all of them predict a decline in Christianity. This all assumes that the statistical trends will continue. Do you think the trend will continue, or will something happen that reverses it?

Article here, no paywall. Modeling the Future of Religion in America
One of the least secure trends is the US still existing in 2070.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
The basic comparison in that reference concerns those labeled "unaffiliated". What that tells me is that organized religion as we know it is dying. In my lifetime, Christians went from being denomination focused (who has the best theology) to mega churches (who is the most engaging minister) to surveys asking if pastors actually believe what they preach/why they are leaving the church etc.

A related thread is about shortages of Catholic priests growing, the emergence of serious scandals and so forth.
 

Exaltist Ethan

Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
Is it 2070 yet? ... unfortunately I'll be dead by the time this happens, and what will replace Christianity most likely will be agnosticism and atheism ... not a good alternative.
 

The Sum of Awe

Brought to you by the moment that spacetime began.
I think Christianity will fade somewhat.
But I'm concerned that other dangerous
faiths will gain prominence.
Faiths? I don't think so. I think political views are going to be the next big conflict trend. SJWism is already on the uprise.
 

AlexanderG

Active Member
I think it will be a lot sooner than 2070. More like 2040. Christianity has been dropping by 1-2% of the population each year in the US, and the MAGA-Evangelical patchwork horror is only accelerating this trend by making Christianity look more horrific each day.

The problem is that the remaining Christians will all be the most uncurious, dogmatic, uncompassionate ones.
 

Orbit

I'm a planet
One thing that might affect the trend is immigration from religious countries, but I'm not sure there's enough of that to make a difference. It's also not impossible to have a revival of interest in Christianity, as happened with "The Great Awakening" in the 1700s, and again with the "Second Great Awakening" in the 1800s. As an observer of trends, I've noticed that conservative Christianity (fundamentalism and non-denominational fundamentalism) seems to attract more people; but there is constant churn as they constantly splinter and lose members.
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
Pew Research Center, which is known for its non-partisan research on religion, has used statistical methods to project that by 2070 Christians will no longer be a majority in the U.S. They describe four possible scenarios and all of them predict a decline in Christianity. This all assumes that the statistical trends will continue. Do you think the trend will continue, or will something happen that reverses it?

Article here, no paywall. Modeling the Future of Religion in America

White Christianity is already a minority. I have to say this is good and we will continue in the way of the other developed nations. The way at least the right wing half of Christianity is and how they want to take over, it needs to die and hopefully be reborn as Jesus actually wanted it. Of course he didn't want a new religion anyway but it's here so let's hope for the best.
 

Sand Dancer

Crazy Cat Lady
I think it will be a lot sooner than 2070. More like 2040. Christianity has been dropping by 1-2% of the population each year in the US, and the MAGA-Evangelical patchwork horror is only accelerating this trend by making Christianity look more horrific each day.

The problem is that the remaining Christians will all be the most uncurious, dogmatic, uncompassionate ones.

The Christian left are compassionate. Don't count them out. The religious right is only half of the religion so there is still hope.
 

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
White Christianity is already a minority. I have to say this is good and we will continue in the way of the other developed nations. The way at least the right wing half of Christianity is and how they want to take over, it needs to die and hopefully be reborn as Jesus actually wanted it. Of course he didn't want a new religion anyway but it's here so let's hope for the best.
What's "white Christianity"?
 

AlexanderG

Active Member
One thing that might affect the trend is immigration from religious countries, but I'm not sure there's enough of that to make a difference. It's also not impossible to have a revival of interest in Christianity, as happened with "The Great Awakening" in the 1700s, and again with the "Second Great Awakening" in the 1800s. As an observer of trends, I've noticed that conservative Christianity (fundamentalism and non-denominational fundamentalism) seems to attract more people; but there is constant churn as they constantly splinter and lose members.

Yes, good points. Still, I think that organized religion needs a critical mass in a population, otherwise enough people will feel free to question it and to visibly normalize their disbelief.

We saw this happen with gay marriage, where enough people realized that there were no objective, identifiable reasons to deny this civil right apart from some verses in an old book. When enough people realize the same about the rest of the verses, and their lack of authority for every other issue, then it will all fall apart from one generation to the next.

This happened in Europe after WWII, when people were massively disillusioned by "holy wars" and divine justifications. We're seeing it in the US now, with Evangelicals and their politics of hatred, discrimination, and vengeance that is driving young people away in droves.
 

Left Coast

This Is Water
Staff member
Premium Member
Is it 2070 yet? ... unfortunately I'll be dead by the time this happens, and what will replace Christianity most likely will be agnosticism and atheism ... not a good alternative.

We're about the same age. I certainly hope not to be dead at 82!
 

Exaltist Ethan

Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
We're about the same age. I certainly hope not to be dead at 82!

As someone who suffers from bipolar and survived multiple suicide attempts, I am counting that I'll be dead by then. Not optimistic, but a realistic point of view of someone who is currently taking (at least) nine different medications each and every single day.

Sorry. Off-topic. Christianity, eh?
 
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