Americans Losing Faith

America has fewer self-identified Christians than ever before, according to a survey released today by Trinity College, the Washington Post reports. The survey of more than 54,000 people conducted between February and November of 2008 showed that only 76 percent of Americans call themselves Christians, compared to 86 percent in 1990. Furthermore, the number of people identifying themselves as generic Christian has risen from 194,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million, which corresponds strongly to a decline in people identifying themselves as mainline Protestants, including Methodists and Lutherans. The survey also supported several trends that sociologists have already identified—the growing number of people with no religion and an increase in religious minorities including Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans and pagans.