Dream Awakener

The latest report by the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) indicates that the United States has been continually moving into a Post-Christendom Context.

The report indicates some major shifts in the American religious landscape in the last 18 years. The USA Today paper version starts their article: “When it comes to religion, the USA is now a land of freelancers. The percentage of people who call themselves some type of Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers – or falling off the faith map completely.”

Some Headlines, Stories and Summaries of This Latest (ARIS) Survey
USA Today: Most Religious Groups in USA Have Lost Ground, Survey Finds

ABC News: More Americans Say They Have No Religion

LA Times: Americans Becoming Less Religious, Study Shows

The Washington Post: Fewer Call Themselves Christians; Nondenominational Identification Increases

Touchstone’s Editors: Mere Comments

USA Today: None’s Now 15% of Population

U.S. News and World Report: New Survey – Those With No Religion Fastest-Growing Tradition

Telegraph: Americans Abandoning Religion as Number of Non-believers Climbs to 15 Percent

Beliefnet (A Pagan’s Blog): Religious Decline and Pagan Renaissance?

Christian Post: Survey Non-Religious Americans on the Rise in Every State

I hope to look through the results of the ARIS survey and make a post on it later.  Of course this kind of survey is one that the missional church needs to study and understand.