First, let everyone interested in the interplay of church and culture celebrate the release of Pew’s Religious Landscape Study (RLS), last conducted in 2014. The RLS surveys more than 35,000 Americans in every state concerning their religious affiliations, beliefs and practices, along with their social and political views and demographic characteristics. It is the largest and most significant study of its kind. As David Campbell, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame said to the New York Times, “‘It is difficult to overstate the importance’ of the survey to the understanding of American religion.”

There are two significant headlines from the survey’s findings, with the first of those getting the most press. The first headline is that the “rise of the nones” that has dominated most cultural assessments over the last decade or so appears to have temporarily stabilized, as has the number of Christians. Between 2019 and 2024, the Christian share of the adult population has hovered between 60% and 64%. Further, the size of the religiously unaffiliated population (the “nones”) has, according to the latest RLS, “plateaued in recent years after a long period of sustained growth.”

Translation? The Christian population has stopped hemorrhaging, and the nones have leveled off.

For now.

Which brings us to the second headline, one that must not be overlooked. In 2007, the RLS found that 78% of all U.S. adults identified as Christian. In 2014, the second RLS found that number had “ticked steadily downward” to 71%. The latest RLS finds that 62% of U.S. adults now identify as Christians. As Pew reports, “That is a decline of 9 percentage points since 2014, and a 16-point drop since 2007.”

That’s not all. As the RLS report itself states, “despite these signs of recent stabilization and abiding spirituality, other indicators suggest we may see further declines in the American religious landscape in future years.” Why? Younger Americans remain far less religious than older adults.

So yes, expect the headlines to say the “rise of the nones” is over and Christianity has ended its freefall. And in the short term, that is both true and very good news.

But it is no cause to celebrate. It may reflect nothing more than a temporary lull in the decline of Christianity and the rise of the nones that has been going on for quite some time. And don’t listen for a minute to any nonsense that Christianity is now back on its feet and growing, as if this latest RLS shows we’ve turned things around.

We haven’t. Nothing has “turned” at all. I do not point that out to be negative, pessimistic or to dampen the enthusiasm of others. It’s good that the bleeding has stopped, even if only for a short time.

But I do want to remind all of us of the serious evangelistic work we have ahead of us.

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