The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted a survey of over 101,000 Americans from all 50 states and concluded: “Today, only 43% of Americans identify as white and Christian, and only 30% as white and Protestant. In 1976, roughly eight in ten (81%) Americans identified as white and identified with a Christian denomination, and a majority (55%) were white Protestants.”

A review of the PRRI website may indicate that while the organization claims to be non-partisan and unbiased in its surveys, there is a more liberal than not lean to its topics and interpretations. Notwithstanding skin pigment or political bias, these findings are a signal that Christianity is losing ground in America.

PRRI also found that evangelical Protestants are on the decline:

White evangelical Protestants were once thought to be bucking a longer trend, but over the past decade their numbers have dropped substantially. Fewer than one in five (17%) Americans are white evangelical Protestant, but they accounted for nearly one-quarter (23%) in 2006. Over the same period, white Catholics dropped five percentage points from 16% to 11%, as have white mainline Protestants, from 18% to 13%.” Politically, only 29% of Democrats are white Christian compared with 50% a decade ago, and 40% are religiously unaffiliated. Some 73% of all Republicans belong to a white Christian religious group, according to PRRI.

Another finding of the PRRI survey was that the religions of youth in America are becoming more non-Christian:

 Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are all far younger than white Christian groups. At least one-third of Muslims (42%), Hindus (36%), and Buddhists (35%) are under the age of 30. Roughly one-third (34%) of religiously unaffiliated Americans are also under 30. In contrast, white Christian groups are aging. Slightly more than one in ten white Catholics (11%), white evangelical Protestants (11%), and white mainline Protestants (14%) are under 30. Approximately six in ten white evangelical Protestants (62%), white Catholics (62%), and white mainline Protestants (59%) are at least 50 years old.

Other pollsters such as Barna and Pew Research corroborate the trends on these numbers. Quite frankly, the implications have nothing to do with white Christians. Christianity in America is in a decline. Christians are losing their children to a dark and dying world. We can even see that the Democratic Party attracts those who are walking away from Christianity. As is written in Galatians 3:28:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

God is not looking at this falling away in terms of race. We are all one race-the human race. Our challenge is to do a better job at making disciples as commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission.

Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!

Bill Wilson

www.dailyjot.com

A nation lives through the hearts of its people. America is an ideal as much, if not more, than a nationality. The American ideal traditionally has been to live free and do no harm to others. In that ideal, we become Americans by assimilating to the values of our nation; freedom, equality, respect for others, for the rule of law.

Founded in the principle that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we have the freedom to own land, to enterprise with our skills and dreams, to worship how we see fit, and, as Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:13, to “enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.” This is America. If you hold to these principles, you are an American. It’s an ideal that lives in your heart.

Lately, especially in the last nine years, the American ideal has come under tremendous threat. There are people in gangs like Antifa, the news media, and even elected politicians who do not ascribe to the American ideal.

In fact, they want to tear down everything that is American, and as the immediate past “president” put it, “Remake America.” It is in their hearts to oppose everything that is American; its history, its capitalism, its religious foundations, its family units, its natural affections for those who are countrymen. This spirit that lives in these people is a rebellious one. The heart of these is as described in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it.”

There are those, however, who still embody the heart and spirit of America. They believe

in freedom. They abide by the laws. They respect others. They stand for what is right according to a godly standard. They are willing to speak up and take action when there is injustice.

They hold dear to the creed that all men are created equal and have the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. They have a love for family. They are loyal. They are trustworthy. They are not afraid of a fight, but seek peace first. In short they are a King David type of people, to whom God may testify as conveyed in Acts 13:22, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.”

One way or another, if you are reading this, you are the heart of our nation. Whether you are a God-fearing American, one who understands that the American ideal and values also flow from the heart of God who created all things and called them good, or if you are a rebellious spirit having a wicked heart living in America, there is before you a choice of good or evil, of life or of death. The American ideal is goodness and life that shows loving-kindness and civility, but is not afraid to stand strong against unrighteousness.

It’s all about the heart. Let us pray a Psalm 51:10 prayer for all our countrymen that the Lord create in them, in all of us, “A clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within” us.

Have a Blessed and powerful day!

Bill Wilson

www.dailyjot.com