Christian Nation? Second Criteria

The second criteria for a nation to be considered Christian, as stated in a previous article, would be that the vast majority of the citizens of that country be Christian. Today in 2011 we have polls and census data that can tell us fairly accurately the religious affiliation of the citizenry. Given the multicultural makeup of the United states, it would seem to be inaccurate to say that the vast majority of citizens of the country are Christians. However, according to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) sponsored by Trinity College, the majority of Americans (76%) identify themselves as Christians, mostly within Protestant and Catholic denominations, accounting for 51% and 25% of the population respectively. With our sophisticated polling methods and statistical models this would seem to be an accurate assessment. A recent (2010) survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 78% of the population considered themselves to be Christian.  

Unfortunately we do not have the same statistical evidence of the religious affiliations of the colonial era citizens. The first census was actually mandated in the constitution. However, this census did not ask any questions about religious affiliation. It was not until 1850 that the census contained questions about church affiliation.  Extrapolation of the statistical data may not yield an accurate picture of US religious affiliation either. For example, survey results from a prior 1990 study by Trinity college showed that 80% of the population was identified as Christian. Extrapolating these results would give the impression that colonial America was 100% Christian. However, we know that there have been ebbs and flows in Christian identification throughout our short history. Evangelical movements saw periods of large increases in Christian resurgence. The first Great Awakening in the US in the mid 18^th century was a result of the preaching of such men as Jonathan Edwards,  George Whitefield and John Wesley. The first Great Awakening weakened the Anglican church and subsequently ties with Great Britain. However it is not clear what effect this movement had on Christian growth. The second Great Awakening occurred in the  1830s and was lead by evangelists such as Charles Finney.  It is unclear to what extent these revival periods increased the number of Christians in the U.S., however these movements definitely had the effect of moving the population towards a reformed theology. That theology being a movement away from close denominational ties towards a more personal Christian identification.

We know that most of the settlers in America came seeking religious freedom. The Massachusetts Bay colony was established by English Puritans. Pennsylvania was settled by Quakers. Maryland was settled by English Catholics. Virginia was settled by Anglicans. Many of these states had laws that forced church attendance. So personal religious beliefs could be masked by church records. Generally speaking, based on historical evidence, the best estimate we have is that about 75 to 80 percent of the colonists attended church regularly. If that can be taken as what today would show up in a survey as being identifed as a Christian then we would have a fairly accurate statistical picture of religious colonial America.

Given these statistics it is safe to say that the vast majority of citizens of the United States were and are Christians.