How Many Christians in the USA?

 There is a lot of discussion about how many Christians there are in the United States. There are Evangelical Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Religious "nones", and others. Pew's research focuses on the data, rather than theories. In other words, they leave the interpretation to others.

Evangelical Protestants

Evangelical Protestants are Christian believers who take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior. The term evangelical derives from the Greek word euangelion, meaning "good news." Their faith emphasizes the message of salvation that Jesus brings through the Bible. While the majority of Americans identify as evangelicals, some people identify as mainline Protestants.

The Evangelical Protestant movement is widely considered to be socially conservative, especially in the Bible Belt (the area encompassing most of the Southern United States, including the Southern states that fought against the Union during the American Civil War). However, there are some who have expanded their social agenda, promoting programs aimed at fighting AIDS in the Third World and protecting the environment.

Evangelicalism has been a force in American politics since the nineteenth century. Though it has fluctuated in media and scholarly attention, it remains a significant political force. In the twentieth century, the majority of white evangelicals began to shift toward the Republican Party. A major reason was the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision, which outlawed racial segregation in public schools.

Evangelicals are a reliable voting bloc for Republicans. However, their political preferences often fail to gain traction once in office. For example, Ronald Reagan courted the pro-life movement but failed to pass any significant policy changes. As a result, Republicans have realized that maintaining their evangelical supporters' rhetoric is more important than legislating policy that conforms to evangelical preferences.

Catholics

Catholics make up approximately one in 10 of all Americans. However, they may attend different religious services or may not even consider themselves Catholic. Regardless of their religious affiliation, many Catholics were raised in the church, and they see the church as part of their family, heritage, and culture. The Catholic faith instills a strong sense of loyalty.

The size of the Catholic population has grown over the past century. From just two hundred and sixty-seven million people in 1900 to 1.045 billion in 2000, the Catholic population in the United States has increased over four-fold. And Catholics now account for 17.7% of the total population in the world.

The Catholic Church is the largest religious institution in the United States. With more than 17,000 parishes and an overwhelming population of Catholics, the church has been facing significant challenges in recent decades. A decline in membership and a shortage of priests have been some of the issues. In addition, revelations of clergy sexual abuse of minors and their superiors covering up the abuse have made the Catholic Church under greater scrutiny than ever.

In the 19th century, the American Catholic Church struggled to establish an identity and establish itself as a viable community within American society. Protestants had a particularly hostile attitude toward Catholics, and a 1924 law restricting immigration from the Catholic countries of Europe made things even more difficult. Anti-Catholic sentiment also contributed to the failure of the Alfred E. Smith presidential campaign. Since that time, the church has been working to broaden its perspective and integrate itself closer to the American mainstream.

The Catholic Church views the practice of abortion as a mortal sin. According to the Church, abortion is an intentional killing of an innocent life. It can lead to excommunication for Catholics.

Orthodox Christians

There are a growing number of Orthodox Christians in the United States. This growing number is largely due to a recent surge of immigrants, many from countries with a strong Orthodox tradition. They brought their clergy with them and started Orthodox churches in the US, serving both the local community and Orthodox Christians from elsewhere. These Orthodox churches are different in form, but all are Orthodox and part of one Church body.

Since the early twentieth century, the numbers of Orthodox Christians in the USA have increased, and most experts agree that the number has reached two million. The growth of this minority group was spurred by immigration, and the communities spread from Alaska to the New York metropolitan area and other urban centers. Although the numbers are low compared to the total population, they reflect the growing number of Orthodox Christians in the USA.

Although there are still some challenges in establishing Orthodox churches in the USA, there are signs of growth. There are new Orthodox churches opening up from coast to coast, and many established Orthodox churches have begun English-language services. Increasing numbers of Orthodox students and adults are expressing interest in Orthodox spirituality.

The Orthodox Church is the oldest church in Christendom, but most people in the US don't know much about it. Despite this, the Orthodox Church is the second largest body of Christians in the world, with over 225 million people. Despite this low number, the Orthodox Church has spawned great scholars and theologians, including Alexander Solzehenitsyn and Stephen King.

The Orthodox Churches in the USA are represented by more than twenty different Churches, including two major ecclesiastical families. The major Orthodox Churches in the USA are the Greek, Serbian, Romanian, and Armenian Orthodox Churches. There are also thousands of local parochial communities. The Greek Archdiocese of North America includes over 530 parishes.

Religious "nones"

The number of Religious "nones" in the USA is growing quickly. In the past decade, the number of "nones" has risen by almost 30 percentage points. By 2012, nearly one in five nonreligious people reported no religious affiliation. And this number is expected to reach close to one in four by the next decade. Despite this growing numbers, many people are reluctant to declare themselves nonreligious.

According to the Pew Research Center, a growing segment of American adults positively identify as spiritual but not religious. They may be agnostic or even have private Christian beliefs outside of ecclesiastical traditions. In recent surveys, atheists and agnostics have made small gains, but the majority of Americans are not atheist or agnostic.

But this does not mean that "nones" aren't religious. In fact, most "nones" are cultural Christians. In the past, they would have identified as Christian and attended church because that was what everybody else did. And it would have been frowned upon if they didn't. But in today's society, being religious is no longer fashionable. So "nones" are more honest about their lack of religious conviction.

The religious "nones" in the USA are now almost as large as white evangelicals. In fact, they make up about 12 percent of the electorate. But they are less likely to vote. That means that the "nones" are a growing political force.

While most "nones" in the USA reject religion, there are those who do believe in God. But only a few truly believe in the God described in the Bible. Most of them see God as an energy or force that manifests itself. Nevertheless, they can be reached through missionary work based on the saving power of God, a New Testament focus on manifestations of God's energy, and a study of Christ as the perfect revelation of God.

Protestants

While most Americans identify themselves as Christian, their religious affiliations differ widely by state. Some have higher concentrations of Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, or Roman Catholics than others. Evangelical Protestants are most common in Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. In contrast, Mormons make up the largest percentage of the population in Utah. There is also a relatively small Protestant population in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

In the early twentieth century, American Protestants split into fundamentalists and modernists, and fundamentalists and modernists fought over the Bible. This split led to divisions within Protestant churches and seminaries. These differences led to the formation of mainline and evangelical Protestant groups. The mainline group held more political and cultural influence during the 20th century.

Although Christians are still the largest religious group in the United States, their percentage has decreased significantly. Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of American adults identifying as Christian declined from 78.4 percent to 70.6%. This means that the U.S. no longer has a majority of Protestants. This trend was first documented in the first Religious Landscape Study conducted by the Pew Research Center.

The Christian denominations are an important part of the American story. Some were brought to the United States from Europe, while others were founded on American soil. However, the number of denominations is not always an accurate indicator of the number of Protestants in the USA. The largest Protestant denomination in the United States is the Southern Baptist Church, with over 16 million members. Other large denominations include the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the USA.

There are also a number of other Protestant countries. China is the most Christian country in the world, with nearly 58 million people being Protestant. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in China, and some experts believe that by 2030 China will have more Protestants than the U.S.