Time Is Now for moral and Spiritual Revival in America, as Christianity Dwindles
A new Pew Research Center study recently found that the number of Christians in America is dwindling—evidence of the need for a more fervent commitment than ever to biblical principles, says the American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net).
The Pew study found that the number of Americans who “identify with Christianity has dropped substantially in the last eight years, while those who don’t affiliate with any religion continue to grow in numbers.”
“While these numbers are discouraging, they’re unfortunately not surprising,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “We can point to our social hot-button issues and where they are heading in terms of morality and a biblical worldview. Likewise, our mainstream media and entertainment reflect a culture in which faith has taken a back seat, if it’s not thrown from the bus completely. And our nation’s laws and public policies—including those pertaining to abortion, religious liberties and the protection of marriage between one man and one woman—are skewed to a relativistic bent.
“Christians around the country must pray that America will return to God’s Word for leadership and guidance,” he continued, “rather than relying on our own cultural wants, needs and agendas.”
AFA’s news service, OneNewsNow.com, also reported on the study, interviewing research associate Dr. Jessica Martinez, who said two factors may explain the change. The first is what she calls “general replacement”—a young generation replacing older generations and not identifying with any religious affiliation, including Christianity. The second, she said, could be “religious switching,” in which a person’s religious affiliation differs from their childhood affiliation. Martinez also told OneNewsNow that about one in five adults say they no longer identify with the religion in which they were raised.
Between 2007 and 2014, Pew found, the number of Americans identifying as Christians dropped from 78.4 percent (178.1 million people) to 70.6 percent (172.8 million people), while the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans increased from 16.1 percent to 22.8 percent in the same time frame—or about 60 million unaffiliated, including atheists, agnostics or those who claim “nothing in particular.”
