Changing Religious Demographics

By:  Dale Weckbacher   

2 Corinthians 5:20

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.

NKJV

As Christians, we are ambassadors for Christ.  As such, we are foreigners living within another nation with the purpose of encouraging citizens of that country to visit our home country and possibly become citizens.  As ambassadors, we also serve in the capacity of protecting people from our home country who are visiting or live the country in which we serve. 

As ambassadors for Christ, we have a calling to share the Gospel with those living in the foreign secular world in which we live.  We also have a duty to unify with other citizens of Christ and fellow ambassadors for Christ, in order to protect them when they are threatened.  Unfortunately, however, many of us, including myself, have failed in our ambassadorial duties.  Instead of sharing the benefits of eternal life with Jesus our Lord, many of us remain silent out of fear of rejection.  Instead of unifying behind Christ and his calling for us all to share the Gospel with all people, we squabble amongst ourselves over minute theological differences.  All the while, a lost and dying world suffers without hope, a hope we all as Christians possess as ambassadors of the greatest message ever given to humanity. 

In a recent Pew research study 70.6% of Americans professed they were Christians.  The remaining 29.4% percent is made up of 5.9% professing some other faith such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, or Hinduism with the remaining 22.8% not professing any religious affiliation.  (1)  On the surface, this is encouraging with a vast majority of U.S. Citizens still professing to be Christians but as with any statistical analysis, it must be compared with previous studies to reveal any trends. 

In 2007, 78.4% of those surveyed professed to be Christians, a 7.8% reduction or about 1% per year.  3.4% of this reduction was in mainline protestant denominations and 3.1 % of the reduction was among Catholics.  Only .9% of the reduction was among Evangelical Christians, encouraging since these are individuals most vilified among Christians in the United States.  (2) 

We must now ask where these 7.8 % have gone.  The majority of them, 6.7% have moved into the unaffiliated category with 1.2% moving to the non-Christian category, a .5% increase in Islam, .3% increase in Hinduism, and .3% moving to other faiths.  (2)  It appears most of the movement since 2007 is from mainline Christianity and Catholicism to no religious affiliation.  With a majority of the increase in the unaffiliated category or those claiming nothing in particular and not Atheism or Agnosticism, it would appear there might be some disenfranchisement among the public with Mainline Christianity and Catholicism. 

On his May 12, 2015 program, while commenting in this study, commentator Rush Limbaugh postulated the theory that much of the drop in those professing Christianity occurred in the Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterians, and Episcopalian denominations.  Since 2007, these denominations have begun preforming homosexual marriages, and ordaining gay and lesbian pastors and ministers.  Mr. Limbaugh’s theory is that these people are disenfranchised by the hypocrisy they saw in church leadership and for many this disenfranchisement caused them to abandon Christianity.  (3)  Jesus main complaint with the religious leaders of His time was their hypocrisy with him condemning it numerous times by calling them hypocrites 17 times. 

Unfortunately, evangelical Christians like me have failed to point these people to churches preaching the Word of God without compromise.  However, there is still time for these people, who formerly professed Christianity.  Hypocritical church leadership may have disenfranchised their faith, but a loving God who sent His son to die for them has not abandoned them.  Let this be a call to action for all of us who are uncompromising believers in God’s Word to perform our ambassadorial duty of protecting these people by inviting them to our embassies or churches so they can reconnect with their home nation, the nation of Christ.  Failure to do this on our part could result in their becoming totally disenfranchised with God all together and becoming Atheists or Agnostics or worse yet, becoming part of some other religion such as Islam, a religion where many profess hatred towards anyone not adhering to their faith, especially Christians or Jews. 

In the chaotic times in which we live, it has never been more important for those of us possessing the only hope for humanity, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to speak up.  Granted, sharing our faith risks possible rejection of friends or relatives but I for one would not want to know that these people died failing to accept Jesus as their savior because I never shared my faith with them.  The question is, will we engage and get in the game or just stay on the sidelines. 

1. Pew Research Center. Religious Landscape Study. www.pewforum.org. [Online] Pew Research Center. [Cited: May 17, 2015.] http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/.

2. —. America’s Changing Religious Landscape. www.pewforum.org. [Online] Pew Research Center, May 12, 2015. [Cited: May 17, 2015.] http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/.

3. Limbaugh, Rush. Pew Poll on Religion Shows the Power Christians Could Still Have in This Country -- If They Used It . www.rushlimbaugh.com. [Online] EIB Network, May 12, 2015. [Cited: May 17, 2015.] http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/05/12/pew_poll_on_religion_shows_the_power_christians_could_still_have_in_this_country_if_they_used_it.