The Transition Away From Christianity

America is living through a religious transformation. The Baby Boomers grew up in a Christian America. More precisely, they grew up in a white Protestant America. A nation where over 60% of citizens were white and Protestant has now become one where only 30% are. More generally, in 1950 95% of Americans identified as Christian, while today 65% do. The future does not look promising for Christianity; most “Zoomers,” those born after 1995, do not believe it is necessary to raise children within a religion.

From Razib Khan (who then explores several historical treatments of the pagan to Christian transition in the Roman Empire and Europe).

The appearance that Catholicism has held steady in the United States in the chart, while Protestantism has not, is somewhat misleading. Native born white Catholics are becoming secular at rates that closely track the rates at which white Protestants are becoming secular. But the percentage of the U.S. population that is Catholic has held steady due to Hispanic Catholic immigration and higher birth rates among Hispanic Catholics relative to the general population.

Also, some of the decline in Protestant identification is due to Evangelical Protestant churches rebranding themselves as non-denominational Christians.