Was amused to read about the latest Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study that reports
Protestants, whose ideals of hard work, individualism and democratic governance have fundamentally shaped the national character, no longer make up a majority of Americans for the first time in history, according to a new study released Tuesday.
OH NOES!!!!
The study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that Protestants now make up 48% of Americans, compared with nearly two-thirds in the 1970s. The decline, concentrated among white members of both mainline and evangelical denominations, is amplified by an absence of Protestants on the U.S. Supreme Court and the Republican presidential ticket for the first time.
Though I'm sure the scary "Other/Don't Know" category, which more than doubled (from 5% to 11%) since 1972 ("Scary Encroaching Muslim Sharia") will get the blame -- at least in fund raising -- Pew itself says "a major factor driving the decline is an increase in religiously unaffiliated Americans to 20%, up from 15% five years ago."
The study did not give reasons fewer Americans now identify with any religion. But it presented theories that included political backlash against the religious right, delays in marriage, broad social disengagement and secularization related to economic development.
You mean intolerance and bigotry don't play well? Who would have thought it?
Decline in memberships affecting both mainline and evangelical churches.
The trend toward dropping away from organized religion was evident across gender, income and educational levels. But it was most apparent in the Northeast and West and among the young, the study showed. A third of adults under 30 have no religious affiliation, compared with just 9% among those 65 and older.
LA Times report on the study
here.