American Christian affiliation declined from 77 to 71 percent between 2007 and 2017.

Evidence

Let’s first compare the sizes of the four orientations toward Christian nationalism over time. Because the questions comprising our Christian nationalism scale were asked in both the 2007 and 2017 BRS, we can determine if the relative sizes of the four orientations have changed in the last decade. For reference, in 2007, 16 percent of Americans identified as unaffiliated, while in 2017 this number increased to 22 percent. In 2007, 77 percent of Americans identified with a Christian religious tradition, which decreased to 71 percent by 2017. Clearly, from 2007 to 2017 there is an overall trend of Americans disaffiliating with Christianity. But is this decrease in affiliation matched by a similar decrease in Christian nationalism? — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 176

Categorization

• XREF: Provides the empirical demographic baseline that complements Jones’s The End of White Christian America and the larger secularization thesis already relevant to vault content. — connects to: Support for Christian nationalism fell while opposition grew sharply from 2007 to 2017. — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 177; Belief that America is a Christian nation fell sharply from 2012 to 2017 — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 182; American religious non-affiliation rose to one fifth, driven by generational replacement — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1166
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 176

Broader Connections

• Belief that America is a Christian nation fell sharply from 2012 to 2017 #corroborates (0.78) — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 182
• American religious non-affiliation rose to one fifth, driven by generational replacement #corroborates (0.72) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1166