Volume 7 Issue 44

The Percentage Of Christians In America Has Hit An All-Time Low         

The decline of the Christian faith in the United States continues to accelerate, and the latest numbers that we just got are absolutely staggering. Most European countries are already considered to be "post-Christian" nations, and the U.S. appears to be headed down the exact same path.  But when America was originally founded, it is estimated that 98 percent of the colonists were Christians.  

The Christian faith played a critical role in the development of our form of government, and down throughout history every generation of Americans was overwhelmingly Christian.  But now things are changing in a major way.  

According to a brand new survey that was just released by the Pew Research Center, only 65 percent of Americans now consider themselves to be "Christians", and that represents the lowest level ever recorded... The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. 

Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009. When it comes to religion, a 12 percent drop in a single decade is not just a decline. In reality, it is a mass exodus. As a Christian, this alarms me greatly.  Year after year we have seen a steady decline in the percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians, and this has been helping to fuel the rapid growth of the "nones"...

Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population - a group also known as religious "nones" - have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as "nothing in particular," up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population. The Pew Research survey also showed that there is a tremendous generation gap when it comes to religious affiliation.

Older Americans still overwhelmingly identify with the Christian faith, but at this point less than half of all Millennials consider themselves to be Christians... Furthermore, the data shows a wide gap between older Americans (Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation) and Millennials in their levels of religious affiliation and attendance. More than eight-in-ten members of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) describe themselves as Christians (84%), as do three-quarters of Baby Boomers (76%). In stark contrast, only half of Millennials (49%) describe themselves as Christians; four-in-ten are religious "nones," and one-in-ten Millennials identify with non-Christian faiths.

The Millennials are the first generation in American history in which Christians are a minority. Just think about that.  We have never seen a religious shift of this magnitude, and it has tremendous implications for the future of our society.

The percentage of our young adults that are "nones" has nearly quadrupled since 1986.  That is a mind blowing statistic, and it is one of the clearest indications that the left has been winning the culture war. As a result of this mass exodus from the Christian faith, churches are closing down in droves all across the country. In fact, it has been estimated that somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are shut down in the United States every single year, and that means that over 100 churches will die this week alone.

As a result, we have a whole lot of empty church buildings on our hands, and many of them are being converted into hotels, bars and indoor playgrounds... A large number of abandoned churches have become wineries or breweries or bars. Others have been converted into hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and Airbnbs. A few have been transformed into entertainment venues, such as an indoor playground for children, a laser-tag arena, or a skate park. But just because the Christian faith is declining in America does not mean that it has to stay that way.  Throughout U.S. history, the greatest spiritual awakenings have often erupted when things seemed the bleakest.  The message of Jesus is timeless, and we have an opportunity to show an entire generation of young people what it really means to be a Christian. 

Just because they aren't going to church does not mean that Americans have lost their spiritual hunger.  Sadly, these days they are just searching out other outlets to satisfy it. Of the 65 percent of Americans that still consider themselves to be "Christians", many of them never really go to church or practice their faith at all.  Church attendance in the U.S. has been plummeting for years, and the influence that faith has on our political process has also been waning. At one time, it was exceedingly difficult to run for public office in this country if you did not consider yourself to be a Christian.  But today, being a Bible-believing Christian is considered to be a huge political liability in much of the nation.

The faith that was once the foundation of our republic is now mocked, ridiculed and laughed at on television and in our movies.  It has been pushed out of our government, out of our schools and out of the mainstream entertainment industry. We wanted a godless society, and so that is what we got.But if we ever do intend to "make America great again", we need to get back to what made it great in the first place.

Chinese Church Fined $1,400 for Owning ‘Wrong’ Version of Bible

A Chinese church was fined this year the equivalent of $1,400 in U.S. for having a copy of the Bible in a different language, according to a religious watchdog.

The congregation, Fengyang Road Three-Self Great Church in the northeastern province of Liaoning, is a member of the officially recognized Three-Self network of Protestant churches that face severe restrictions.

In April, Chinese Communist Party officials found copies of South Korean Bibles in the church’s possession – an illegal action that sparked a fine of $10,000 RMB (about $1,400 USD), according to Bitter Winter, which monitors religious freedom in the country. 

“The church was also prohibited from selling Bibles,” Bitter Winter reported.

The fine was part of the Communist Party’s effort to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications” – and the latest example of the party’s crackdown on Christianity. 

“Many believers have reported that the Three-Self churches to which they belong have been subjected to sudden inspections by the government,” Bitter Winter reported. “All newspapers, hymnbooks, gospel leaflets, and especially Bibles that weren’t published and printed by the state were confiscated and even burned.”

The government even has forced churches to hang banners promoting the campaign against illegal books. In August, Fengzhuang Three-Self Church in the central province of Henan was forced to display a banner urging its members to help “eradicate pornography and illegal publications.” 

Some members of the Fengzhuang Three-Self Church objected to the banner because it implied the congregation was hiding either pornography or illegal publications.

“The government’s campaign to ‘eradicate pornography and illegal publications’ has actually swept into churches. This is slanderous to God!” one of the church’s co-workers told Bitter Winter.

A second Christian agreed.

“This isn’t just slanderous, but is a trap laid by the devil to make people mistakenly believe that there is a severe problem with the church’s ethos,” the second Christian said.

Benevolent Teenager Raises over $12,000 for Local Food Pantry

Thirteen-year-old Joshua LeRette has spent the past four years raising thousands of dollars for his local food pantry. He recently donated $12,583 that slowly accumulated over the years, according to KCCI.

The Iowa teenager started his compassionate venture in the third grade after he heard one of his classmates didn’t have food at Thanksgiving. In response, Joshua asked his friends and family to donate canned goods in lieu of his birthday presents. He was able to gather 100 cans from his request to donate to the local food pantry in Red Oak and hasn’t stopped since.

Joshua slowly built up the cash for his most recent donation with bake sales and lemonade stands. “I’ve seen people pay more than $50 for one of his pies,” his mom, Dawn LeRette said. The teenage entrepreneur has also invited other community members to donate their pies as well.

But Joshua doesn’t take in just high donations. One woman who could only contribute a dollar was allowed to choose anything on the bake sale table. “Those are the people we do this for,” Dawn said.

The motivation behind Joshua’s benevolent work is to help kids in school.

“He thinks if kids are not thinking about being hungry, they will be more focused on school,” Dawn said.

According to the Christ Cupboard, a food pantry run by First Covenant Church in Red Oak, recipients of the donated goods are often struggling to make ends meet. Many of them have low-paying jobs or don’t qualify for governmental assistance. Others are recovering addicts or recent prison charges who need help while getting back on their feet.

With the Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon, volunteers are always needed to help local food pantries sort, organize and serve food. Some also accept other donations, such as cosmetic or hygiene products or baby supplies.