america is not a "christian nation"

here are a couple of figures i have run across in recent weeks. with the sbc annie armstrong easter offering for home missions in full swing, let these facts and figures wake us from the pipe dreams that america is god's favorite country....

"...the first and most important statistic is that there
are a lot of americans who don't go to church - and
their numbers are increasing. the figure has jumped
from just 21 percent of the population in 1991 to 33
percent [in 2003]. In fact, if all the unchurched people
in the u.s. were to establish their own country, they
would form the eleventh most populated nation on
the planet."
george barna, "unchurched nation" moody magazine (july-august
2003) -read in the radical reformission by mark driscoll

• • America's Protestant majority -- a mainstay of American life from the
    colonial era to the present -- is in decline and Protestant Christians will soon become a minority. The survey revealed that only 51.3% of Americans now identify as Protestants.
    
  • Mainline Protestant churches and denominations continue to lose membership and now represent only 18.1% of the population.
    
  • Those identifying as "unaffiliated" represent a fast-growing segment of the population (16.1%), including atheists (1.6%), agnostics (2.4%) and "nothing in particular" (12.1%).
    
  • At least 27% of families are interfaith to some extent. The percentage rises to 37% if spouses of different Protestant denominations are included.
    
  • Among younger Americans (ages 18-29) almost a quarter claim no religious affiliation.

  reflections by albert mohler on a recent survey by the
  the pew forum on religion & public life