PRINCETON, NJ — This time of year provides an opportunity to answer frequently asked questions about exactly where America stands today in regard to religion, based on Gallup’s extensive archives. Christmas is obviously a Christian holiday. But what percentage of Americans today identify with a Christian religion? About 82% of Americans in 2007 told Gallup interviewers that they identified with a Christian religion. That includes 51% who said they were Protestant, 5% who were ‘other Christian,’ 23% Roman Catholic, and 3% who named another Christian faith, including 2% Mormon. Because 11% said they had no religious identity at all, and another 2% didn’t answer, these results suggest that well more than 9 out of 10 Americans who identify with a religion are Christian in one way or the other. Has this changed over time? Yes. The percentage of Americans who identify with a Christian religion is down some over the decades. This is not so much because Americans have shifted to other religions, but because a significantly higher percentage of Americans today say they don’t have a religious identity. In the late 1940s, when Gallup began summarizing these data, a very small percentage explicitly told […]