American Exodus from Christianity

In Europe, the secular exodus from what is called “Christianity” has been gradual, but in the United States, the decline has been very rapid since the early 2000s (GRID News, December 17, 2022). The Pew Research Center projects that those who call themselves “Christian” will be a minority in the U.S. by 2070. The largest group of the non-religious are those aged 30 and under, raising concerning questions about the future. Research suggests not only that these millennials will raise their children to be atheists or agnostics, but also that the vast majority of those children will remain that way after becoming adults.

The Guardian reports that a consequence of this rapid mass secularization of America is the closing of church buildings by the thousands every year (January 22, 2023). “About a quarter of the young adults who dropped out of church said they disagreed with their church’s stance on political and social issues,” according to one researcher. And the impact of Covid-19 has only accelerated the exodus, as Protestant pastors report church attendance is only about 85 percent of their pre-pandemic numbers.

What many don’t realize is that what we think of as mainstream Christianity has been off track for centuries. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of His day for “teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:9). False teachers in the early centuries substituted their own ideas for biblical Christianity—seeds that would blossom at the end of the age, producing a massive “falling away” from even the most basic truths of God (2 Thessalonians 2:3) and the rise of a generation pursuing an empty and powerless form of spirituality (2 Timothy 3:5). This turning away from God in a nation that once considered itself “Christian” is sobering to watch. To learn more about the implications of this burgeoning trend of secularism, be sure to watch “Sunset for Britain and America.”