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Survey finds Protestant majority disappearing in U.S.

Associated Press, USA
July 20, 2004
Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer
www.fresnobee.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Wednesday July 21, 2004

(AP) – The United States will no longer be a majority Protestant nation in years to come, due to a precipitous decline in affiliation with many Protestant churches, a new survey has found.

Between 1993 and 2002, the share of Americans who said they were Protestant dropped from 63 percent to 52 percent, after years of remaining generally stable, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

At the same time, the number of people who said they had no religion rose from 9 percent to nearly 14 percent, and many are former Protestants, the survey’s authors said.

‘Nones’ – No Religion

Fastest-growing religious group: ‘None’

The study was based on three decades of religious identification questions in the General Social Survey, which the opinion center conducts to measure public trends.

The United States “has been seen as white and Protestant,” said Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey. “We’re not going to be majority Protestant any longer.” Respondents were defined as Protestant if they said they were members of a Protestant denomination, such as Episcopal Church or Southern Baptist Convention. The category included members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of independent Protestant churches.

The Mormon Church

Theologically, Mormonism – the so-called ‘Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ is a cult of Christianity.

Given that the theology and practice of the Mormon Church violates essential Christian doctrines, Mormonism does not represent historical, Biblical Christianity, is not a Christian denomination, and is not in any way part of the Christian church.

Research resources on Mormonism

Among the reasons for the decline were the large number of young people and adults leaving denominations as the number of non-Protestant immigrants increased, comprising a greater share of the population. Also, a lower percentage are being raised Protestant, Smith said.

Smith said it is also possible that some former Protestants are now identifying themselves only as “Christian,” a choice on the survey.

The Roman Catholic population has remained relatively stable over the period, making up about 25 percent of the U.S. population.

Religion Trends