In a 2008 study, 15 percent of Americans said they had no religion. That’s an increase from 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
“Americans are slowly becoming less Christian. The challenge to Christianity does not come from other world religions or new religious movements, but rather from a rejection of all organized religions,” said the report.
“Well, it certainly is a matter of concern,” said Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council. “George Washington said that we should not entertain the notion that we could have a free country in the absence of morality and religion.”
In the latest survey, three out of four Americans called themselves Christian. In 1990, the figure was closer to nine out of 10. Some evangelical analysts are choosing to see a silver lining in this cloud. “This report is mostly good news,” said Glenn Stanton, director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family. “It indicates people are still interested in and attracted to Christian traditions that are more biblically serious and faithful.”
The most notable declines in the report came from mainline Protestant churches.
