For decades, generations of Americans stood each morning and pledged allegiance to “one nation under God.” But today, that sacred phrase feels more like a fading memory than a living truth.
According to the Pew Research Center, as reported by the Daily Mail, 62 percent of Americans identify as Christian, down sharply from about 90 percent in 1970. Pew warns that if current trends continue, the Christian share of the U.S. population could plummet to just 46 percent by 2070. That would mark the first time in our nation’s history that Christians are no longer the majority.
It’s a sobering statistic, but for believers, it must also be a call to arms.
A Church Asleep While Others Multiply
“Pastors are not preaching the whole counsel of God,” said Pastor Brent Madaris of Hometown Hope Ministries, in comments to the Daily Mail. He described the Pew data as “an urgent call for church renewal,” lamenting that too many Christian communities “have taken their eyes off the ball while rival faiths gain ground.”
He’s right. While Christianity continues to shrink, Islam is growing steadily in the United States. Pew and the Islamic Resource Center report that the number of mosques increased by 31 percent between 2010 and 2020. Immigration, a younger population, and higher fertility rates are fueling that expansion. In contrast, an estimated 1,500 Christian churches closed during that same decade.
Yet the greatest competitor to Christianity may not be Islam or any other religion; it’s unbelief. Pew projects that by 2070, Americans who identify as atheist, agnostic, or “nothing in particular”, the so-called “nones”, could form a slim majority of the U.S. population. These are not just people leaving the Church; they are people losing faith altogether.
The Erosion from Within
Dr. George Barna, Director of Research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, told the Daily Mail that “the continued decline is neither surprising nor something that is likely to change in the near future unless dramatic changes are made.” He identified one critical reason: syncretism; the blending of beliefs and practices from many faiths into what he calls a “customized faith unique to that individual.”
This, Barna warned, has already “profoundly infiltrated and redefined the American Christian community, replacing biblical Christianity with its idiosyncratic approach to life.” In other words, we’ve replaced the Cross with comfort, catechism with convenience.
That erosion starts at home. “Families and churches today have relaxed standards for what constitutes Christianity,” Barna said. “Parents aren’t raising their children in the church like they once were.” When faith becomes optional in childhood, it becomes disposable in adulthood.
A Catholic Call to Renewal
For Catholics, these warnings hit close to home. The same currents eroding Protestant congregations are sweeping through Catholic parishes. Baptisms decline, Mass attendance drops, and vocations grow thin — all while the secular world grows louder.
This is not the time to surrender. It’s the time to evangelize with conviction. As Pope St. John Paul II proclaimed, the Church must embrace a “New Evangelization” — one that reawakens baptized Catholics who have fallen asleep to the beauty and urgency of their faith.
Pastor Madaris put it bluntly: “Church youth groups major on games, attendance, and fun rather than truth, biblical depth, and spiritual fruit.” The same could be said of many Catholic ministries that have traded formation for entertainment. We are raising generations of young people who know how to be nice, but not how to be holy.
Reclaiming Lost Ground
Despite the sobering statistics, there are sparks of renewal. Political and cultural movements that center faith, family, and moral order, often dismissed by the secular elite, show a hunger for spiritual direction among younger Americans. “The continued decline doesn’t have to be inevitable,” Madaris said. “We need to reclaim lost ground.”
The Catholic Church has done this before. Every great crisis of faith has been met by a renewal of saints — men and women who turned despair into revival. Today, that call belongs to us.
If America is to remain “one nation under God,” then her Christians, especially her Catholics, must live like it. Not half-heartedly, not privately, but publicly, joyfully, and fearlessly.
The faith of a nation can only endure if the faithful themselves do.
Your support brings the truth to the world.
Catholic Online News exists because of donors like you. We are 100% funded by people who believe the world deserves real, uncensored news rooted in faith and truth — not corporate agendas. Your gift ensures millions can continue to access the news they can trust — stories that defend life, faith, family, and freedom.
When truth is silenced, your support speaks louder.
