The End of White Christian America

Demographer of religion Robert P. Jones has bad news for White Christian America (WCA). Few will be surprised at his news, that the heyday of WCA's influential role in United States society and politics is over. The End of White Christian America is Jones's retrospective and obituary. Jones quotes E.J. Dionne, who said "white Protestantism served as 'the civic and moral glue that held American public life together' for most of the United States' history."

I'll be up front about this: I am a White Christian American. So I have a vested interest in the state of WCA. Further, as Dionne points out, all Americans, regardless of race, immigration status, national origin, or religious preference have benefited from the moral and cultural milieu which has made the United States the beacon of hope to the rest of the world. Economics may be the primary reason people want to immigrate to the U.S., but it's much more than that. And WCA has played a leading role in creating this atmosphere.

Jones traces the decline of WCA by examining ecclesiastical and political trends. For most of our history, Protestants have dominated the landscape, both spiritually and by the physical presence marked by steeples on the skylines of our cities and churches adjacent to the town squares. Noting the histories of the United Methodist building in Washington, D.C., the Interchurch Center in New York City, and the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California, Jones shows the waxing and waning of movements in WCA. Hopes for a "Christian Century" and the power of the "Moral Majority" dwindled with each generation. Now we are arriving at a time when WCA no longer has a demographic advantage, either in terms of church attendance or political majority.

As a demographer, Jones has various ways to demonstrate this reality. A couple of notes:

Today, young adults (ages 18-29) are less than half as likely to be white Christians as seniors (age 65 and older).
By the 2024 presidential election, even if the GOP nominee could secure every single white Christian vote, these votes would land 3 points short of a national majority.

Christians might cynically mourn the loss of political power in the country. Conservative religious voters will no longer be the sought after swing vote, as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. More important than that, though, is the very real loss of a Christian presence in culture. Many hospitals, universities, and major charitable institution and movements were founded directly or indirectly out of Christian motives. What happens to the ongoing influence of these institutions as their Christian foundations are slowly chipped away. (Hint: we already see it in universities that were founded as Christian schools. They not only neglect but completely reject their Christian moorings.

Most importantly for Christians, though, especially those Christians considered more evangelical, is the impact on the Kingdom of God. Churches are never perfect. Jones points out one big area of WCA blindness: racism. But one thing churches always are is the body of Christ. Christians, through the church, represent Jesus in this life, on this earth, and are called to bring the message of his saving grace to the world. Christians can do that, no matter whether they are in a political majority or not, but Christians should be very concerned about the lack of growth in the church in recent years. Christians are not teaching their children to continue to life committed to Jesus into adulthood, and are not bringing their friends and neighbors into the Christian fold. The consequence are eternal and far more significant than who we back for any given election.

Jones doesn't have a lot of good news for WCA. But American Christians will be challenged to remember that their first commitment is to Jesus, not to politics, parties, or institutions. Christians better face the new reality and focus on the gospel and not on party platforms.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

I found the book well-researched and easy to understand. The arguments, from my perspective, are valid. The major issue I have with the book is that it does not deal with the results of the last election and the "uprising" of White Christian America in states that swayed the electoral college. Is this their last gasp or renewal?

I considered myself an Evangelical Christian until I couldn't stand the strong identification with the Right Wing Conservatives in the Republican Party and that branch of Christianity. This was a very interesting book. Unfortunately, as we look at the 2016 election it is somewhat premature. The Christian Right will be a huge power player in the Trump administration so they are showing it is far from the end of their political involvement.

"The reports of my recent death have been greatly exaggerated."
- attributed to Mark Twain

I just finished reading the book, The End of White Christian America by Robert P. Jones. As I am a Christian who happens to be white and American, I felt I needed to be informed concerning the demise of a group of which I am apparently a member. The book has enthusiastic blurbs on the jacket by a number of men whom I respect.

Robert Jones, we are told, "is the founding CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and a leading scholar and commentator on religion and politics." He informs us that he was raised in White Christian America (henceforth to be referred to as WCA) and comes from a long line of Georgia Baptists, though he does not claim to share their faith.

I have been concerned for many years about the politically rightward drift of many of my fellow Christians, especially of those in leadership roles. My concern involves the association by many, of these three terms as describing themselves: white, Christian and American; for some the words are practically synonymous. So I wanted to see if this author could offer some encouragement. Before I make further comments on the arguments presented, I must say I appreciate the data given.

The book begins with an obituary for WCA. WCA is, as presented in this book, White Protestant American Christianity, which the author tells us, can be divided into two groups: Mainline Protestantism and Evangelical Protestantism. He starts with the stories of three buildings which he apparently considers allegories for the history of the decline of WCA: the United Methodist building in Washington, DC (ca. 1923), the Interchurch Center in New York City (ca. 1960) and Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA (ca. 1980). The decline of these three began almost as soon as they were built.

The author tells us that his story does not deal with the distinctions between the sub-groups, but deals with WCA as a "single dynasty." "The key question here is not why one white Protestant subgroup is faring worse than another, but why white Protestantism as a whole - arguably the most powerful cultural force in the history of our country - has faded. This is a story of theology and culture, but it is also a story of powerful demographic changes." (page 40)

Chapter 2: "Vital Signs ... " is the most informative with charts and graphs to back up its claims; this data makes a clear case that WCA is declining in number. Though Mainline Protestantism was the first to decline from its position of power, Evangelical Protestantism is now beginning to decline - at least as a percentage of the American population.

Then follow Chapter 3: "Politics: The End of White Christian Strategy; Chapter 4: Family: Gay Marriage and WCA; Chapter 5: Race: Desegregating WCA. In these chapters the author presents brief histories of the actions of WCA, with criticisms for the behavior of Evangelicalism and mild praise for the behavior of Mainline Protestantism. Most of the material in these chapters has been heard before and it is here that the author clearly reveals opinions that are sometimes biased.

The 6th and final chapter is entitled "A Eulogy for WCA." In it the author uses Kubler - Ross' well-known stages of grief and applies them to WCA: "Denial and Anger," "Bargaining," "Depression and Acceptance." Though I don't believe their use was meant to be humorous, I actually found this chapter a bit amusing.

So? What to do with this book? I fear that like many books of this sort, it will be applauded by those who agree, and either condemned or ignored by those who disagree. However, I find myself in some place in between.

Mr. Jones appears to be one who is not really mourning the end of WCA. And while I agree with him in many areas, I find my major area of disagreement is that we come from two very different starting points. The author seems to judge WCA from modern pragmatic criteria rather than a biblical spiritual base. So the following are my views on WCA:
- First, I agree that these three have been identified too closely by many of my Christian brothers and sisters. We have failed to get out of our cultural shell and to judge our culture from a truly biblical worldview.
- The political adventures of many prominent Evangelicals have brought shame on the Name of the Lord. Sadly this is becoming more and more evident in this election season. What this book brought out is the idea that (perhaps) this is a last-ditch effort to recover an influence that is rapidly slipping away.
- The issue of race has been a burden of mine for a long time. White Christians judge their brothers and sisters from their own WCA perspective and fail to deal with the blatant racism that permeates not only our politics, but our churches themselves. The chapter on race points out many of these faults, criticizes and praises some, but seems to be brought more from an outside perspective.
- The issue of the church's dealings with the LGBT community is not as clear-cut as that of race, in spite of the claims made in this book. With the race issue efforts can and must be made to clear away non-biblical traditions; but with the issue of sexual orientation, we cannot clear away biblical teachings to just get along. We must learn to love those who are different, but we cannot endorse certain behaviors.
- The book did not (I feel) deal enough with the "America" part. There is much more that needs to be said about the identification of Christianity with the super patriotism that is being over-emphasized by many today.

So is WCA dying? I suppose so. But Christianity is not! I believe we need to shed WCA's trappings and live a purer Christianity - one that identifies with those of other ethnic and national groups. Perhaps the information in this book will lead to a Christianity that is cleaner, purer and less encumbered with wrong standards and goals.

Reviews - books Bill Ball
9/16/6016

I am a deeply imbedded member of White Christian America (WCA). Not only raised in the 1950s and 1960s by a conventional church-going family (Lutheran), I went from college to seminary and served as a local church pastor for 29 years in a mainline Protestant denomination (United Church of Christ). From my position serving local churches I could sense a trend away from, not only church dominance in our culture, but also church influence. Perhaps I even sensed it sooner than most. My upbringing and early career were in locales (Midwest and New England) where churches were an important part of both the physical and psychic landscape, only to move mid-career to Oregon (one of the "most unchurched" states in the country) and find what it meant to live in a place where most people thought of "church" with at best a shrug.

It was a most definite ecclesiastical culture-shock when I first moved West. Little did I know--as The End of White Christian America so ably illustrates--Oregon was just in the vanguard of what was coming nationwide. Especially since evangelical Christianity appeared in such an ascendancy at the time, it only seemed that somehow we "mainline" Christians had lost our relevancy. But as Robert Jones points out, evangelical churches have themselves peaked and are now on their own decline.

Jones is the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, and in picking his book up, I expected to be presented with a rather dry presentation of surveys and statistics indicating the trend. The book's boring cover did not encourage me to think otherwise. What I got, however, was so much more. What surveys and statistics are mentioned are merely backdrop for an engaging discussion of the implications of what they say.

Significantly, when Jones speaks of WCA, he is not just narrowing himself to the ecclesiastical world, but to the whole culture of white privilege and power that has dominated American society since its inception. In many ways, what he has to address in this regard is much more important than that which is simply limited to churches. Indeed, while his text went to the printer before this year's political campaign, what he has to say is directly relevant to the dynamics we see playing out today--Donald Trump can very easily be characterized as the candidate of reaction to the major sociocultural shifts that are reshaping the dominant segments in our society today.

Along the way, Jones addresses important issues like race, including hot issues like police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement. He provides an interesting analysis as to why attempts at fostering multicultural churches don't work. And he takes a rather pastoral approach toward members of WCA churches, both mainline and evangelical, in an attempt to shepherd them through their decline and loss; he likens their current experience to Kugler-Ross' stages of grief, in an effect to gently move them toward the final stage of acceptance where they might be at peace.

It worked for me.

Shockingly shallow work to anyone acquainted with the American scene. The phenomenon he is trying to describe is certainly among us, but why segregate Black Christianity which has oddly had more an more of a voice in pan-Christian councils. (The head of the nation's archetypically whitest church, The Episcopal Church, is an African-American. Every page is obvious and there are no new insights here. A college student who took and American religion survey or a person who reads the newspaper will come away from the book with nothing new but paper cuts.

A good deal of useful information, but the concept of White Christian America remains elusive. The book remains an interesting read, and might well provide certain insights into the Donald Trump phenomenon in the US election.

The beginning of the book was awkward, with the eulogy and the random placement of the architecture of WCA. Maybe the latter was meant to give a type of history of WCA, but it seemed out of place and meant for the end of a book.

Once that was past the charts, images, and stories were fascinating and explained in decently accessible wording. The book is not long, so it does not go into painstaking and long detail, but it covers interesting topics each step of the way in WCA, especially in the past 30 years including religious liberty and the multiple stages of the southern strategy.

The End of White Christian America is the most illuminating study of America's changing religious scene that I've read in a very long time. Jones deftly arrays demographic and survey data to document Protestantism decline from the country's numerically and culturally dominant religious group to a shrinking minority experiencing a string of defeats on every front. The book also is beautifully written, with a reporter's eye for events and even buildings that symbolize larger realities. Against the backdrop of Jones's analysis, it becomes easier to understand why so many white Protestants are feeling beleaguered and desperate enough to support a presidential candidate whose personal history so conspicuously diverges from the models of humble faith and family rectitude they prize.

William A. Galston, The Brookings Institution

I should have examined the author's affiliation before I made the assumption that the book would be an unbiased review of the decline of religion in America. The increase in the number of non-believers was given little space and what was given was condescending.

I finished this novel shortly after watching the first night of the 2016 Republican National Convention. As a person who is interested in politics but is amazed by how the once visible line between the separation of church and state has been becoming more and more invisible. This book provided plenty of information that was all backed up with sources to give a detailed report on the raise and the supposed fall of the White Christian America.

The only real faults I found with the book was that it was a very very dry read. But also at times Professor Jones's bias does sneak through during different passages of the book that would make it hard to believe that this book could be a non-basis view of the end of white christian america.

-A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review provided by NetGalley-

Jones's argument that "White Christian America" has lost the political clout to dominate national politics has been proven by the election to be just another falsely wishful prophecy by just another deluded, arrogant, elitist Progressive-Humanist. Divisive leaders among the antichristian minority like Jones should wake up and learn to shut up before stomping in their own mouths for the majority of intelligent analysts to rejoice mit grosser Schadenfreude, nicht?!?

The phenomenon of a "White Christian America" gained popularity during the latter half of the 19th century. The "White" part was always correct, but the notion that the Founding Fathers were creating a Christian-based country is belied by their own writings. The original Founding Fathers were predominantly Deists, with the exception of Jefferson, whose private writings show he was an atheist. Rev. Bird Wilson, nephew of a signer of the Constitution, who grew up with the founders, in a sermon given in 1831, bemoaned the fact that NONE of the first 7 presidents identified themselves as Christians. Deism is an enlightenment "religion" popularized among the well educated in the UK, the Colonies, and France around the end of the 17th century. It teaches that an anonymous "god," they referred to as the Creator (a reference to whom was added at the last minute in the Declaration of Independence by a person unknown) created the universe and then withdrew completely, leaving mankind to learn about their world and universe through observation, experimentation and reason. Deism rejected churches, bibles, prayer, Jehovah, Jesus as savior, and all of the trappings of Christianity. In fact, at the time of the Revolution, only about 15% of Americans attended church.

There has been a thriving cottage industry since the late 1900s creating false statements supposedly from our early presidents and founding fathers supporting the notion that the country was founded on Christian principles, but most, if not all, of these "quotes" have been traced to their sources (some as late as the 1960s) and debunked. There is an entire section in the official library of Jefferson's papers devoted to debunking fake "Christian proclamations" by him. Even in the mid-19th Century, President Abraham Lincoln said "The Bible is not my book and Christianity is not my religion."

It is no accident that the ONLY mention of religion in the body of the Constitution is in Article VI and reads "...all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

The phrase "Oath or Affirmation" was used repeatedly to allow those who believed an Oath to be a religious swearing would have the alternative of Affirmation.

So, this might have been more accurate to the official record had Jones titled it "The Beginning and The End of White Christian America."

Book was depressing to me as an evangelical Christian. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! I would really like to know if Robert Jones is a Christian-- or possibly a Jew (as his wife is.) I think she and her family have definitely influenced him! Like America, he had roots in the Christian faith but this no longer influences our culture as it once did.

I listened to Mr. Jones presenting his thesis for more than an hour today on NPR and I found it completely lacking in insight. While his "data" and "statistics" may present one picture, his failure to discuss the actual theology of the Christian message that is being absorbed by the less educated followers allows him to make severe errors and misinterpret the data. Christianity is messianic and has a powerful eschatology. What Mr. Jones is interpreting as a "longing for the past" in cultural terms, is actually tied to the messianic message of hope in the Christian theology. It is NOT what was past in the 1950s alone -- it is what values are perceived to be permanent for the last 2,000 years, and for the values that will free our souls from the prison of sin, binding us to lust and avarice at the expense of our fellow man. Care for your neighbor and your brother is about the future, not the past. Recognizing that people are suffering today because they do not understand the permanent values of life that lead you to health, joy, and love is not a thing of the past -- Christians know that today, and they want that for the future. Mr. Jones is completely confused by his own data, and misinterprets a longing for values as a longing for culture -- the Values that Christians long for are found to be exactly the same all over Africa, China, and the Middle East before the last genocide brought about severe errors in judgement about the "arab spring by President Obama. I could see no reason to read this book after listening for more than an hour to the author as he repeated misunderstood not only his data but the callers in to NPR who tried to explain it to him. If his interviews for the book went the same way as they did on live radio, well, his efforts are a waste of time.

Exactly when did Christian America equate solely with Protestantism? Catholics are also Christians! Also, why do white christians think they have a monopoly on Americanism or Christianity? Whites and/or Christians do not have a monopoly on being American... "ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL"... including those who your prejudices would exclude from being part of the country they helped build, fought for and, in some cases died for.
You should be ashamed!

Realy? You really believe God wants America to be an all white America or all Christans to be white? I have this funny feeling that the ones who believe this will be the first pushed into the pit of Hell. Believe it or not, God wants all of his children of all colors to be (Good) not fake Christian's living in a world free of people who think they are better than all others. You will BURN for thinking like that.

Book should be renamed the beginning of hatred towards white Christians in America. Whether you all like it or not, this country was founded on Judeo-Christian values. If you don't like us or like it here, get the hell out! I'm tired of this hatred and bigotry towards white people and Christians, it shouldn't be tolerated!