Christian Headlines Blog Christian Blog and Commentary

Get guidance on Bible study from C.S. Lewis - Free Course!

Poll Finds Majority of White Evangelicals Don’t Believe U.S. is a Christian Country

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

    More
  • Updated Jun 24, 2016

New research has revealed that the majority of white evangelical Protestants in America no longer believe the U.S. is a Christian country.

According to research from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), 59 percent of white evangelicals said they believe the U.S. is no longer a Christian nation. This is up from 48 percent just four years ago.

ChristianToday.com reports that the numbers are lower for the American public in general. Forty-two percent believe America was once a Christian nation, but is not any longer.

The research relied on the PRRI immigration survey produced in partnership with the Brookings Institution. The survey asked questions relating to the 2016 election, such as the cultural changes that are happening in the U.S.

Almost half (49 percent) of the 2,600 adults polled said that “"discrimination against Christians has become as big a problem in America as discrimination against other groups.”

The survey also evaluated participants’ views on whether American culture is better today or in the 1950’s.

The results found that “No group of Americans is more nostalgic about the 1950s than white evangelical protestants.”

In addition, 72 percent of Americans of all religious and political views said that America is heading in the wrong direction.  

"When we step back and look at the big picture, we do see heightened anxieties among Americans," said PRRI CEO Robert Jones.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: June 24, 2016