The majority isn’t the majority any longer.
For the first time in US history, Protestants are no longer the leading religion. The Pew Research Center published a survey by CNN stating the percentage of Protestants has fallen to 48 percent, with the fastest growing “religious groups” being those who have no religious affiliation.
USA Today has a wonderful graph showing the percentage breakdown of religious affiliations in the US, marking the decline of religion in an easily understood manner.
To further prove the downturn of Protestants, take a look at the (rapidly) upcoming presidential election. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is Mormon and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and Vice President Joe Biden are of Catholic faith, making President Barack Obama the only Protestant on the ballot. This is the first time in decades for the Republican Party to not be Protestant.
CNN reports William Galston, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, saying the GOP ticket “really symbolizes the passing of an era.”
“All the groups that make up the new American population, as opposed to the population of 50 years ago, are now participating on equal” terms, in politics and American society in general, Galston told CNN.
Rev. Eileen Lindner, a Presbyterian pastor and editor of the Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, told USA
“We are still twice as likely to be affiliated with a religion than Europeans, but there is strong evidence that our religious institutions, as we configured them in past centuries, are playing a less significant role in American life,” Lidner said.
It will be interesting to watch the next few years unfold as Americans, more than ever before, continue their lives leaving God completely out of the picture.
Sources:
http://www.pewforum.org/Press-Room/Pew-Forum-in-the-News/Survey-Protestants-are-no-longer-majority-in-US.aspx
Survey: Protestants are no longer majority in U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/08/nones-protestant-religion-pew/1618445/
Sophie Miller 