White Christian America: Is the end really near?

In a book that started with an obituary for White Christian America (WCA) and ended with a eulogy, a leading commentator on religion, culture, and politics has spoken about what he describes as the steady decrease of white Protestant Christians over the past four decades. The author arrived at the conclusion that today, America is no longer a majority white Christian nation.

The book starkly named "The End of Christian White America," was authored by the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) Robert P. Jones. He argued that the country is currently experiencing the passing of White Christian America. This is said to be based on two things: the diminishing influence of major religious organizations like the National Council of Churches and the Christian Coalition of America, and the changes in demographics observed by the passage of time.

Amazon described the book as a challenge for Americans to "grasp the profound political and cultural consequences of a new reality – that America is no longer a majority white Christian nation." The book analyzed the decreasing strength of WCA, and has been named a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.

These lowering figures were lifted from Jones' book by Christian Today: In the U.S., only 29 percent of young adults from 18 to 29 identified themselves as white Christians, is much lower compared to past generations. Of those aged 50 to 64, 56 percent said they were white Christians. 67 percent of seniors aged 65 and older identified the same. The percentage for white Christian young adults is almost the same for non-whites at 28 percent.

In an interview with the Washington Post, Jones shared his findings on the WCA. "The American religious landscape is being remade, most notably by the decline of the white Protestant majority and the rise of the religiously unaffiliated," Jones said. He added that the transformations in the last 40 years have been "swift and dramatic."

Jones said a lot of white Americans already recognized the changes and it had already gained some media interest. The U.S. may currently be having racial issues but it is the WCA decline that causes more apprehension. He explained further, "Falling numbers and the marginalization of a once-dominant racial and religious identity — one that has been central not just to white Christians themselves but to the national mythos — threatens white Christians' understanding of America itself."