Death of Christianity in America ‘Greatly Exaggerated?’

Newsweek Magazine, April 13, 2009 edition, has an ominous cover story:  The Decline and Fall of Christian America: How a reduction in religious affiliation will change the U.S. There has been a lot of press lately from major  surveys documenting decline in numbers of affiliated Christians and the increase of those openly NOT.  Dave Olson,  soon to be head of the Evangelical Covenant’s Church Growth and Evangelism Department, has written a book called The American Church Crisis - where he asserts after a study of 200,000 churches that attendance in America is half of what is usually reported by polls and church denominations.  The ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey, 2008) is the most recent study (quoted in the Newsweek article.)  You might want to read it for yourself , instead of being told what it says!)  Despite the sensational title, the Newsweek author, Jon Meacham,  is making a  point that is actually positive in some ways.  He is trying to say that there is a difference between Christianity and Christian America (as often defined.)