Most Americans do not believe America is a Christian nation today, even if many say it was in the past.
About one-third (35 percent) of the American public believes the U.S. was a Christian nation in the past and is still a Christian nation today; close to half (45 percent) say the U.S. was once a Christian nation but no longer remains so; and 14 percent say the U.S. has never been a Christian nation.
The number of Americans who believe the U.S. is a Christian nation has declined steadily over the past five years.
In 2010, 42 percent of Americans said the U.S. has always been and is currently a Christian nation. Only 35 percent say the same today.
Like Americans overall, most Christians don’t believe America is a Christian nation today.
Only about 4 in 10 white evangelical Protestants (42 percent), non-white Protestants (39 percent), and Catholics (39 percent) believe the U.S. is a Christian nation today. And only one-third of white mainline Protestants say the same.
A majority (56 percent) of white evangelical Protestants and nearly half (48 percent) of white mainline Protestants say the U.S. was a Christian nation at one time but is no longer.
About 4 in 10 non-white Protestants, Catholics, and religiously unaffiliated Americans say America was a Christian nation in the past but is not today.
Most Americans who believe the U.S. is no longer a Christian nation view this change negatively.
Among Americans who believe the U.S. was once a Christian nation but is not anymore, roughly 6 in 10 (61 percent) say this is a bad thing, while about 3 in 10 (29 percent) say it’s a good thing.
Source: PRRI.org
