Religious and Racial Trends in the US

Robert P. Jones came to present data and trends of religious and racial affiliations in the United States. According to his statistics Protestants no longer make up the majority of Americans. While still not a majority, the unaffiliated continue to grow to almost a quarter of the population. This decline is attributed to the younger population, as the number of unaffiliated increases with each generation. While I did not know the exact data, none of the information presented surprised me. Just living in the United States, I can see how my generation thinks and views the older generations and I hear the older generations talking about our generation. Additionally, I don't think that this decline is a recent phenomena. During the ancient period, religion was not seen as much as a personal choice, but it was communal. By being part of a community, a person was automatically part of the religious community. In the medieval time period, the governments in Europe were tied to the Catholic church, so there was still that communal identity. Around the time of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment, people began to look more into the natural world for natural laws, instead of depending on divine authority. At this point, faith, especially Christianity in the West, started becoming something more private. People would talk about science and the world on separate terms than they would talk about God. Since that point, governments have become more secular (although not completely secular, by any means) and faith has become something more individual and less institutional. In my opinion, all of the statistics presented fit into the trend that began at the scientific revolution.