Prostestants Majority Slipping Away

Chaucer · Jul 22, 2004

In yesterday's paper there is a Reuters article (Protestant's U.S. majority slipping away) that says that Protestants may soon account for less than 50% of the population. Prostestants still outnumber Catholics 2:1 but both are slipping. From 1993 to 2002:

Prostestants: 63% to 52%
Catholics: 25% to 25%
Other: 3% to 7%
None 9% to 14%

In a taxonomical gaff, The National Opinion Research Center study lumped Mormons in with Protestants - which surely ought to annoy both of them.

Rescued One · Jul 22, 2004

Chaucer said:
In yesterday's paper there is a Reuters article (Protestant's U.S. majority slipping away) that says that Protestants may soon account for less than 50% of the population. Prostestants still outnumber Catholics 2:1 but both are slipping. From 1993 to 2002:

Prostestants: 63% to 52%
Catholics: 25% to 25%
Other: 3% to 7%
None 9% to 14%

In a taxonomical gaff, The National Opinion Research Center study lumped Mormons in with Protestants - which surely ought to annoy both of them.

I'm not annoyed. What matters is whether or not one's name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

skylark1 · Jul 22, 2004

GodsWordisTrue said:
What matters is whether or not one's name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Amen!

(I'm not sure what this has to do with unorthodox theology....)

Chaucer · Jul 23, 2004

skylark1 said:
(I'm not sure what this has to do with unorthodox theology....)

The tie in was the that some are now considering Mormons as part of the Protest movement.

...the interesting part of the article, I didn't print it, was not that people are losing their - the study did not draw that conclusion - but rather that generally, people are finding less relevancy in belonging to specific denominations.

carolbob · Jul 23, 2004

Chaucer said:
In yesterday's paper there is a Reuters article (Protestant's U.S. majority slipping away) that says that Protestants may soon account for less than 50% of the population. Prostestants still outnumber Catholics 2:1 but both are slipping. From 1993 to 2002:

Prostestants: 63% to 52%
Catholics: 25% to 25%
Other: 3% to 7%
None 9% to 14%

In a taxonomical gaff, The National Opinion Research Center study lumped Mormons in with Protestants - which surely ought to annoy both of them.

Read something like that over at the FAIR boards. So, if they're slipping away, where are they going?

Chaucer · Jul 23, 2004

carolbob said:
So, if they're slipping away, where are they going?

The Catskills?

http://www.classicfm.co.za/website/docs/reutersSHOWStory.jsp?ID=9763

Jezus_Phish · Jul 23, 2004

Chaucer said:
...the interesting part of the article, I didn't print it, was not that people are losing their - the study did not draw that conclusion - but rather that generally, people are finding less relevancy in belonging to specific denominations.

Maybe we're all starting to realize that... Christianity is supposed to bring us together, whereas the denominations are separating us. I also think that each denomination is starting to understand one another moreso nowadays... which is certainly God's blessing. *^.^*

Serapha · Jul 23, 2004

Chaucer said:
In yesterday's paper there is a Reuters article (Protestant's U.S. majority slipping away) that says that Protestants may soon account for less than 50% of the population. Prostestants still outnumber Catholics 2:1 but both are slipping. From 1993 to 2002:

Prostestants: 63% to 52%
Catholics: 25% to 25%
Other: 3% to 7%
None 9% to 14%

In a taxonomical gaff, The National Opinion Research Center study lumped Mormons in with Protestants - which surely ought to annoy both of them.

HI there!

Be proud... you have been grouped with... "New Age Spirituality adherents" also...

~serapha~

http://www.classicfm.co.za/website/docs/reutersSHOWStory.jsp?ID=9763
The study defined Protestants as those belonging to all post-Reformation Christian churches such as Baptist, Methodist and Episcopalian, including Mormons and New Age Spirituality adherents. The survey included 2,765 people 18 and older and there was a margin of error of plus or minus two percent for the 2002 statistics.

Chaucer · Jul 23, 2004

Serapha said:
Be proud... you have been grouped with... "New Age Spirituality adherents"

~serapha~

What do you suppose the New Ager's are protesting? Being lumped in with the rest of us?

Serapha · Jul 23, 2004

What do you suppose the New Ager's are protesting? Being lumped in with the rest of us?

Hi there!

Did I say that the New Ager's were protesting?

Why put words in people's mouths... that's simply poor apologetics ... such poor tactics for a person with such high moral standards as you present on the forums as you degrade every other "Christian" member's debate tactics.

When you "quote" me...use the quote function... just so there is no misunderstanding.

~serapha~

blessedbe · Jul 23, 2004

from Chaucer: What do you suppose the New Ager's are protesting? Being lumped in with the rest of us?

Hi there!

Did I say that the New Ager's were protesting?

Why put words in people's mouths... that's simply poor apologetics ... such poor tactics for a person with such high moral standards as you present on the forums as you degrade every other "Christian" member's debate tactics.

When you "quote" me...use the quote function... just so there is no misunderstanding.

~serapha~

Calm down serapha!! Go count to 10. Chaucer was not responding to your post, rather he was making a play on words..

Protestants---->"protesting" against the Catholic church----->

New Agers---->protestant group----->protesting what exactly???

well, anyway chaucer I thought it was pretty funny!!

Doc T · Jul 23, 2004

blessedbe said:
Calm down serapha!! Go count to 10. Chaucer was not responding to your post, rather he was making a play on words..

Protestants---->"protesting" against the Catholic church----->

New Agers---->protestant group----->protesting what exactly???

well, anyway chaucer I thought it was pretty funny!!

Well, blessedbe, at least two of us caught Chaucer's humor.

Doc

~

just human · Jul 23, 2004

Well if you watch the education channels on TV and see the documentaries on places like Ruanda(I know there is supposed to be a w in there somewhere) The major christian religions are killing each other off. !00s od thousands of Catholics killed each other off there. For some reason the scriptures about learning war no more don't seem to mean anything in our world. Our major religions are all supporting the wars when they happen and often are the direct cause of them. If God is leading our Churches why do we kill each other off? We should be teaching love for one another not killing those we don't agree with.!

skylark1 · Jul 23, 2004

From the article:

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

Maybe it is a good sign that more people choose to identify themselves simply as Christians, rather than members of a specific denomination. My relationship with Christ is much more significant to me than the place or denomination in which I choose to worship Christ.

repentandbelieve · Jul 23, 2004

Chaucer said:
In yesterday's paper there is a Reuters article (Protestant's U.S. majority slipping away) that says that Protestants may soon account for less than 50% of the population. Prostestants still outnumber Catholics 2:1 but both are slipping. From 1993 to 2002:

Prostestants: 63% to 52%
Catholics: 25% to 25%
Other: 3% to 7%
None 9% to 14%

In a taxonomical gaff, The National Opinion Research Center study lumped Mormons in with Protestants - which surely ought to annoy both of them.

Yeah, I read the article in the SF Examiner and noticed how the NORC lumped Mormons, JW's and SDA's in the protestant catagory. Taking that into consideration I really doubt that the article is factual. I take it as another useless poll or survey. BTW, do you know of anyone who was contacted by the NORC regarding to this survey? No one contacted me to ask if I am a Protestant, Catholic or other.

repentandbelieve · Jul 23, 2004

just human said:
Well if you watch the education channels on TV and see the documentaries on places like Ruanda(I know there is supposed to be a w in there somewhere) The major christian religions are killing each other off. !00s od thousands of Catholics killed each other off there. For some reason the scriptures about learning war no more don't seem to mean anything in our world. Our major religions are all supporting the wars when they happen and often are the direct cause of them. If God is leading our Churches why do we kill each other off? We should be teaching love for one another not killing those we don't agree with.!

This is happening because in Matt 10:34-36 Jesus said that it would happen.

lared · Jul 24, 2004

carolbob said:
So, if they're slipping away, where are they going?

To the mall,......to worship.

nb_christseeker · Jul 24, 2004

>To the mall,......to worship.

wow. mammon's making a comeback nowadays, isn't he.

Chaucer · Jul 26, 2004

Here's a followup to the survery: from what I can tell the Baptist are displeased with the Mormons as well as the Episcopalians:

Now, admittedly, the survey has some flaws, such as defining "Protestantism" as everything from the Episcopal Church USA to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nonetheless, the study shows a clear decline, no matter which way you read it.

We shouldn't panic about this.

Frankly, we should be more concerned about the loss of a Christian majority in the Protestant churches than the loss of a Protestant majority in the United States. Most of the old-line Protestant denominations are captive to every theological fad that has blown through their divinity schools in the past 30 years -- from crypto-Marxist liberation ideologies to sexual identity politics to a neo-pagan vision of God -- complete with gender-neutralized liturgies. Should we lament the fact that the Riverside Avenue Protestant establishment is now collapsing under the weight of its own bureaucracy?

What we should pay attention to instead may be the fresh wind of orthodox Christianity whistling through the leaves -- especially throughout the Third World and in some unlikely places in North America as well. Sometimes animists, Buddhists and body-pierced Starbucks employees are more fertile ground for the Gospel than the confirmed Episcopalian at the helm of the Rotary Club.

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/bpnews.asp?ID=18758

COMALite J · Jul 27, 2004

You do realize that if the study says that there were only 52% Protestants and falling as of 2002 (two years ago), and they have included too many groups as Protestant which really dont qualify (I would be interested to know whether they include Orthodox as Catholic [as they should be  the major dispute of the Great Schism was political, not doctrinal] or Protestant [a common mistake by those who know little of Christian history]), that that means that real Protestantism (as in denominations that can be traced to the Protestant Reformation) has almost certainly already lost its majority status, right?

I mean, if you add up all of the LDS, JWs, SDAs, New Agers, Orthodox (if included as Protestant), etc., they would almost certainly account for at least 2% of the overall USA population, and add to that that, assuming a linear trend, going from 63% to 52% in nine years means over a percentage point a year loss. Even without the faulty classifications, Protestants would only barely meet the 50.0001% status required for a majority, at best. Combining both factors means that there is almost no chance at all that the Protestants are still the majority.

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