[Student Reporters] Editorial: The Decline of Christianity in the United States

Christianity has had a pivotal place in the United States-a 2007 survey indicated that 78.4% of adults identified themselves as Christian compared to rates in other wealthy nations such as the United Kingdom (53%). However I noticed that fewer teenagers were caring about religion and becoming more liberal adopting attitudes different from their parents. This observation led me to conduct a survey asking a total of 30 teenagers (and several college students) two simple questions: What religion do you practice if any? And what religion do your parents practice if any?

20 out of 30 identified themselves as Christian or Catholic and 10 as nonreligious. I assumed that most students follow the same religion as their parents due to being raised in the same religious environment. My assumption was confirmed when the 20 students that identified themselves as Christian indeed claimed that their parents were also Christian. However when I asked the same question to the nonreligious students-6 out of 10 claimed that their parents were also nonreligious but 4 stated explicitly that their parents were religious.

This data reveals that simply because the parents are Christian does not necessarily mean that their children will be. Jake M. a 16 year old who identifies himself as atheist states that "My parents are Christian but they never really raised me in a strong conservative setting. I was taught to question my beliefs and live my life the way I choose."

While the United States is still predominantly Christian it has been on a steady decline since 1990 (88.3%) suffering a loss of 9.7% in 11 years. According to the ARIS study on religion if this trend continues then non-Christians will outnumber Christians by 2042. Furthermore the label of being a Christian may be deceptive-Rodney stark a professor of sociology at the University of Washington claims that "People who believe in God - are unchurched" stating that one who considers himself Christian may never even have gone to church or actively participate in the religion being a Christian at face value only.

Reasons for this decline can be seen as an amalgam of personal and societal factors. Unprecedented advances in technology and science have provided an endless sea of knowledge regarding our world and one major quality they uphold is the value of using secular and natural means to further human knowledge. Inevitably it tends to conflict with religious teachings that largely involve faith and spiritual values. A recent trend in rising immigrants is also a significant factor as many of them bring their cultural and religious beliefs into the nation increasing their community and spreading their beliefs to others.

This is not to say that Christianity will eventually die out. Perhaps it may perhaps it may not. Linda S. at USC believes that "Christianity will never die out simply because of the sheer number of adherents." Still in our modern society the impossible has happened many times and many events and actions have often been unpredictable.