THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAINLINE PROTESTANTS: One often hears that there are more Muslims in this country than Episcopalians. (I most recently heard this fact this morning when one of the TV newscasters - I forget which - was explaining, in part, why an imam would be participating in the Reagan funeral service.) What one doesn't often hear is that the reason for that is largely that there actually aren't that many Episcopalians in this country. Just how many there are is subject to some debate, but the Episcopal Church of the United States says there are 2,320,221 baptized members in the United States, and I'm willing to trust them. So there are a little less than 2.5 million Episcopalians in this country. According to the Census Bureau, there are about 291 million people living in the United States. That means Episcopalians constitute about 0.8% of the population of the United States.
The other mainline protestant churches - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ (the spiritual descendants of the Congregationalists) - aren't doing a whole lot better. The Methodists are the largest, with 8.4 million members (according to this site). That's about 2.9% of the US population. The Presbyterians have about 2.5 million congregants. Scroll to the bottom to see a graphic portrayal of the decline of a mainline Christian church. (Bear in the mind that, while there are only 60% as many Presbyterians in the country than there 1960, there are 1.6 times as many Americans as there were in that year. In 1960, Presbyterians were about 2.5% of the population; today they're 0.9%) The United Church of Christ has about 1.3 million members, minus the 3300 from the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield who just left over a doctrinal split. (If we're still keeping score, that's about 0.45% of the US population.) The Evangelical Lutherans have 5 million members, but since I'm feeling generous and don't understand the distinctions between the various branches of Lutheranism I'll toss in the Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which apparently brings the grand total to 9.5 million in North America Minus the roughly 200,000 Canadian Lutherans, that's 9.3 million-odd American Lutherans, about 3.2% of the population.
All told, there are about 23.8 million mainline Protestants in the United States; they make up approximately 8% of the population, and shrinking. In contrast, there are 63.4 million Catholics in the United States (23% of the population). There are more than 16 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention, along with 3.5 million members of the National Baptist Convention, 2.5 million members of the National Missionary Baptist Convention, and 2.5 million members of the Progressive Baptist Convention; as well as 5.5 million members of the Church of God in Christ, 5.2 million Mormons, 2.6 million members of the Assemblies of God, 2.5 million members of the African Methodist Episcopal church, 1.5 million Pentecostals, etc. etc. etc.
I'm not going to speculate as to the cause of the remarkable decline in mainline Protestantism in this country. I will ask: given that Episcopalianism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and Congregationalism are now a decided minority within American Protestantism, shouldn't we stop calling them "mainline"? The term implies that they're mainstream, but the truth is that the stream has dwindled into a creek. The true heart of American Protestantism today are the Baptists and the other Evangelical churches. (If my terminology is off here I apologize; I don't know enough about Protestantism to speak entirely precisely.) The old mainline denominations have the many beautiful churches (and some ugly ones - no one was immune from the architectural plague of the 1970s), they have the fancy theological schools and the aura of respectability, but increasingly they don't have parishioners.
(By the way, how weird is it that Episcopalianism and Congregationalism, which 250 years ago were the established religions in the British American colonies, now constitute around 1.25% of the population? Sic transit gloria)
The other mainline protestant churches - the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ (the spiritual descendants of the Congregationalists) - aren't doing a whole lot better. The Methodists are the largest, with 8.4 million members (according to this site). That's about 2.9% of the US population. The Presbyterians have about 2.5 million congregants. Scroll to the bottom to see a graphic portrayal of the decline of a mainline Christian church. (Bear in the mind that, while there are only 60% as many Presbyterians in the country than there 1960, there are 1.6 times as many Americans as there were in that year. In 1960, Presbyterians were about 2.5% of the population; today they're 0.9%) The United Church of Christ has about 1.3 million members, minus the 3300 from the First Church of Christ in Wethersfield who just left over a doctrinal split. (If we're still keeping score, that's about 0.45% of the US population.) The Evangelical Lutherans have 5 million members, but since I'm feeling generous and don't understand the distinctions between the various branches of Lutheranism I'll toss in the Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which apparently brings the grand total to 9.5 million in North America Minus the roughly 200,000 Canadian Lutherans, that's 9.3 million-odd American Lutherans, about 3.2% of the population.
All told, there are about 23.8 million mainline Protestants in the United States; they make up approximately 8% of the population, and shrinking. In contrast, there are 63.4 million Catholics in the United States (23% of the population). There are more than 16 million members of the Southern Baptist Convention, along with 3.5 million members of the National Baptist Convention, 2.5 million members of the National Missionary Baptist Convention, and 2.5 million members of the Progressive Baptist Convention; as well as 5.5 million members of the Church of God in Christ, 5.2 million Mormons, 2.6 million members of the Assemblies of God, 2.5 million members of the African Methodist Episcopal church, 1.5 million Pentecostals, etc. etc. etc.
I'm not going to speculate as to the cause of the remarkable decline in mainline Protestantism in this country. I will ask: given that Episcopalianism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and Congregationalism are now a decided minority within American Protestantism, shouldn't we stop calling them "mainline"? The term implies that they're mainstream, but the truth is that the stream has dwindled into a creek. The true heart of American Protestantism today are the Baptists and the other Evangelical churches. (If my terminology is off here I apologize; I don't know enough about Protestantism to speak entirely precisely.) The old mainline denominations have the many beautiful churches (and some ugly ones - no one was immune from the architectural plague of the 1970s), they have the fancy theological schools and the aura of respectability, but increasingly they don't have parishioners.
(By the way, how weird is it that Episcopalianism and Congregationalism, which 250 years ago were the established religions in the British American colonies, now constitute around 1.25% of the population? Sic transit gloria)
<< Home