Are Evangelicals Now Dwindling?

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n follow up to the previous post on the vote in Ireland where I suggested American evangelicals should take heed of the potential coming backlash, one of my Google search agents found an article that suggests that the arrogant and hubris filled evangelical Christian crowd may already be in trouble although it has not yet translated into declining political clout within the GOP.  A new study suggests that  between 2003 and 2017, the percentage of evangelicals in the U.S. dropped from 21% to 13%, even as the percentage of “Nones” rose from 12% to 21%. If the results are accurate, it suggests than "Nones" and religious progressives need to do more to assert themselves in the realm of political activism.  Here are highlights from a piece in Patheos:

According to a new study, the number of white evangelicals is dropping precipitously, to the point that there are now more Americans who profess “no religion” (21%) than there are who claim to be “evangelicals” (13%).

So finds the study sponsored by ABC News and the Washington Post.  Between 2003 and 2017, the percentage of evangelicals in the U.S. dropped from 21% to 13%.  While the percentage of “Nones” rose from 12% to 21%.

[I]f these new numbers are correct, the percentage of evangelicals has dropped by nearly half in three years, from being one in four Americans to just over one in ten.  Can that be right?

First of all, these are percentages of the total population, not raw numbers.  The white population as a percentage of the whole has declined, as the study points out, though the drop in the evangelical numbers is even greater.  Also, the ABC/Post study focuses on white evangelicals. 

Here are some more findings from the ABC/Post study:

(1)  The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has declined from 83% in 2003 to 72% in 2017.

(2)  The percentage of Protestants has declined from 50% in 2003 to 36% in 2017.

(3)  Catholics have held steady at 22%. [Thanks to the influx of Hispanic immigrants]

(4)  Other Christian groups that are neither Protestant nor Catholic–such as the Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witnesses (sic), and Mormons (sic)–have risen from 11% to 14%.  [So a bigger percentage belongs to these groups, not all of whom would be considered Christian by the terms of historical orthodoxy, than to white evangelicalism (13%)?  That doesn’t sound right, but maybe it is.]

(5)  Despite the rise in “nones,” the percentage of atheists has not risen from 2003 to 2017, holding steady at 3%.  [As we blogged about, 72% of “nones” believe in some sort of deity, with 17% believing in the God of the Bible.]

Although we might question some of the figures, let’s assume that the overall findings are correct.  Conservative Christians have long lorded it over the mainline liberal denominations, whose numbers have been in decline for decades.  Now it may be conservative Christians’ turn to decline in numbers.

An article by Ed Kilgore in New York Magazine, written in a rather gloating tone, raises another issue.  If white evangelicals make up only 13% of the population, how come they have so much political clout?  Their numbers are actually quite negligible. . . . . “If the irreligious ever get serious about flexing their muscles politically, a lot could change in this country, particularly on church-state separation issues.”

I for one hope the figures are accurate.  Evangelicals are one of the most toxic elements in American society today.

Barna Research Group: Atheists Divorce Less, Commit Fewer Crimes Than Christians

Today's posts may seem disproportionately rough on "godly Christians," but there just seems to be a plethora of stories that underscore the hypocrisy and batshit craziness of the so-called Christian Right.  As a number of previous posts have set forth, states with gay marriage have lower divorce rates than anti-gay Bible Belt states.  Likewise, studies have shown that evangelical Christians have the highest divorce rates of any religious groups/denomination.  Now, a new study by the Barna Research Group - a conservative Christian organization - confirms that atheists have a lower divorce rate than the "godly Christian" crowd.   Here are highlights via The New Civil Rights Movement:

An Evangelical Christian pollster finds that atheists commit less crimes, divorce less, and are better educated than their fellow Christians. “It is obvious that you do not have to believe in a higher power in order to live a moral and successful life. Quite the opposite,” the Knoxville News‘ Al Westerfield writes of the study, adding that “the groups with the highest crime rate, the poorest marriages and the lowest education continually strive to force their beliefs on the nonreligious. And the politicians pander to them. Why else would they pass laws to put religion in the schools and on courthouse facades? And then they wonder why the godless could possibly be upset.”

“According to a Barna Research Group report, fundamentalist Christians have the highest divorce rate, followed by Jews and Baptists,” Westerfield writes:

The godless are tied with Catholics and Lutherans for the lowest divorce rate. It seems that some groups that claim to follow the Bible most strictly are not putting their money where their mouths are. The godless who are thought to be without morals seem to take their vows more seriously.

Some groups seem to like their flocks ignorant so that pastors’ interpretations of God’s edicts are not questioned. Other groups prize scholarship and achieve more in their lives here on Earth.

In fact, a review of worldwide studies found that criminality and religion go hand in hand. The countries with the most religious people have the highest crime rates, highest sexually transmitted diseases and the highest teen pregnancy rates.

This is also true in the United States. The more religious a state’s population, the higher the crime, STD and teen pregnancy rates.

The hypocrisy is mind numbing.  Why do politicians give a damn about what these ignorant, promiscuous and  obviously unfaithful folks have to say about anything?  Oh, I forgot.  These folks are today' Republican Party.

Wisconsin Family Council - Unloving and Un-Christian

Proving herself in my view to be a mean, cold hearted bitch, Julaine Appling, Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Family Council (pictured at left), wants Wisconsin same sex couples who marry in other states and then return to Wisconsin prosecuted under an old 1915 law - which most likely was aimed at preventing inter-racial marriages - which imposes up to a $10,000 fine and nine months of jail time. That's the report made by WKOW-TV 27 at least. But then, I guess I should not be surprised by Ms. Appling's attitude. If one listens to the various mouth pieces of Christianist organizations from Daddy Dobson on down, they NEVER have a message of love, peace and/or joy. Rather, it is ALWAYS a message of hatred towards someone, be the target group gay, brown skinned immigrants, Muslim, or whatever. The message is always the same: prosecute them, limit their legal rights, persecute them, or just disseminate lies to demonize them.

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No wonder only a fairly recent Barna Group study found that only 3% of 16 - to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%). The study group also found that young people - both those inside the church and outside of it - said that something was broken in the present-day expression of Christianity. Here are some highlights from WKNOW:
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An obscure law makes it a crime for Wisconsin residents to enter marriage in another state if that marriage is illegal here. It carries a fine up to $10,000 and nine months in prison. Julaine Appling, Chief Executive Officer of Wisconsin Family Council, says violators of the law should be charged with fraud. "You purposely left the state for another state and you get married and you know it's not going to be legal where you reside and you have every intention of returning, that's defrauding the Government," Appling says.

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"The law is from 1915, five years before women could vote," says Fair Wisconsin Executive Director Glenn Carlson. Fair Wisconsin says majority of their members don't care about the law, saying they would rather be prosecuted then persecuted. . . . . The prosecution of violators would be up to district attorneys and Fair Wisconsin doesn't believe any district court would go after same-sex couples who marry in California. Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said doing so would be a "poor use of scarce prosecution resources."