The End of White Christian America

by Robert P. Jones

Overview

“Quite possibly the most illuminating text for this election year” (The New York Times Book Review).

*Winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion*
Robert P. Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, spells out the profound political and cultural consequences of a new reality—that America is no longer a majority white Christian nation.

For most of our nation’s history, White Christian America (WCA) set the tone for our national policy and shaped American ideals. But especially since the 1990s, WCA has steadily lost influence, following declines within both its mainline and evangelical branches. Today, America is no longer demographically or culturally a majority white, Christian nation.

Drawing on more than four decades of polling data, The End of White Christian America explains and analyzes the waning vitality of WCA. Robert P. Jones argues that the visceral nature of today’s most heated issues—the vociferous arguments around same-sex marriage and religious and sexual liberty, the rise of the Tea Party following the election of our first black president, and stark disagreements between black and white Americans over the fairness of the criminal justice system—can only be understood against the backdrop of white Christians’ anxieties as America’s racial and religious topography shifts around them.

Beyond 2016, the descendants of WCA will lack the political power they once had to set the terms of the nation’s debate over values and morals and to determine election outcomes. Looking ahead, Jones forecasts the ways that they might adjust to find their place in the new America—and the consequences for us all if they don’t. “Jones’s analysis is an insightful combination of history, sociology, religious studies, and political science….This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers across the political spectrum” (Library Journal).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501122330
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	07/12/2016
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	413,333
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Robert P. Jones is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and a leading scholar and commentator on religion and politics. Jones writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for The Atlantic, TIME, and Religion News Service. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as MSNBC, CNN, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and others. He holds a PhD in religion from Emory University and a MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity, which won a 2021 American Book Award, and The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. He writes a regular Substack newsletter at RobertPJones.substack.com.

Table of Contents

An Obituary for White Christian America 1

1 Who Is White Christian America? 5

2 Vital Signs: A Divided and Dying White Christian America 45

3 Politics: The End of the White Christian Strategy 79

4 Family: Gay Marriage and White Christian America 111

5 Race: Desegregating White Christian America 147

6 A Eulogy for White Christian America 197

Acknowledgments 241

Appendix 245

Notes 249

Index 299

Editorial Reviews

…quite possibly the most illuminating text for this election year. Jones has located the heirs to [Arthur] Schlesinger's "Old America," slouching toward a new Bethlehem of despair even as they fight rear-guard battles against "the new realities of American demographics, culture and politics"…Jones has dug through mountains of surveys and polls. The result is what he frankly calls an "obituary" of the nation's shrinking population of white Protestants.

The New York Times Book Review - Sam Tanenhaus

04/11/2016
Providing an obituary of “white Christian America,” a eulogy, and a look at stages of grief over its death, Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute and online columnist for the Atlantic, urges America to come to grips with the fact that it is no longer a nation composed mostly of white Christians. Jones follows the emergence and rise of what he calls white Christian America (WCA), often with some interesting, little-known tidbits, and then examines how that majority has disappeared. His thoughts focus on white men, however, leaving readers to ponder how discontented women play into the declining WCA numbers on top of the increasing numbers of non-white Christians. In addition, Jones never thoroughly considers whether Christians refusing to change their attitudes toward same-sex marriage, for example, might be doing so because of solid belief in the scriptures rather than because they don’t want to join non-whites who support marriage equality. Jones’s assumption that white Christians are having a harder time getting elected because they represent an old way of thinking fails to consider that voters might think those particular politicians are incompetent regardless of their race. The book is full of facts, figures, charts, and illustrations, but even as Jones opines that the death of white Christian America is a good thing, he never fully engages with the source of this transformation. Agent: Roger Freet, Foundry Literary & Media. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Robert Jones has established himself as one of the country’s most intelligent and fair-minded explorers of the American religious and political minds. So it’s not surprising that The End of White Christian America is meticulous, engagingly written and full of insight. . . . An important achievement that will be discussed not for years but for decades.

E. J. Dionne Jr.

Jones persuasively articulates how both the fear and the hope of the new America are animating our faith and our politics. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who seeks to understand how we got to where we are in our churches and politics today, and how we might help build the bridge to a new America.

Jim Wallis

Robert Jones gives us an impressive, clear-minded account of an America that once was but will be no more. While the new realities may cause some to grieve, citizens from every demographic and faith perspective will applaud this book’s non-polemical approach and its insights for a changing nation that remains spiritual and religious as it finds new expressions for its core beliefs.

Mike McCurry

Robert Jones provides essential insight not only into the politics of 2016, but into the broader cultural, ethnic and religious forces restructuring America in the 21st Century. . . . While everyone else was looking 25 years ahead in anticipation of demographic evolution, Robert P. Jones recognized that this country had already experienced crucial social and political change: that the very definition of ‘white Christian’ was undergoing radical transformation.

Thomas B. Edsall

"A haunting portrait of America as it was, and a window into what it is fast becoming. Anyone hoping to understand how we went from Obama's to Trump's America will benefit from reading this wonderfully written, exceptionally researched book."

Joy-Ann Reid

Robert Jones’ new book is a brilliant and eloquent epitaph for white Christian America. Jones deftly and insightfully shows how this new moment marked by white Christian America’s demise holds both promise and peril for those concerned about racial justice and the future of race relations in the country. This book is a must read!

Michael Eric Dyson Michael Eric Dyson

Robert Jones convincingly illumines the waning influence of white Protestantism in America as well as the reactions of those bewildered or angered by this inexorable shift. Fast-paced and keenly discerning, this book does a remarkable job of explaining why our culture and politics are so fraught and why we seem to be entering a whole new era in our history. Truly a must-read for understanding the divided state of our nation today.

R. Marie Griffith

The 2016 election campaign revealed to all and sundry that we live in a new country. Robert Jones has written the best guide I have seen to the America taking shape around us.

Alan Wolfe

"Provocative.'"

The Nation - Joan Walsh

Required reading for anyone who wants to know what the American religious landscape looked like in the past, and hopes for a glimpse of where it’s heading in the future.

Eboo Patel

As a white pastor who has been active addressing cultural issues for decades, I found this book fascinating, clarifying, and useful. For white Christians who want to serve our nation as a part of our faith, the big story line is not the loss of our centrality in the realms of political power; it’s the welcome opportunities for new partnerships based on shared moral principles. This book also leaves us pondering ways to be part of the sequel.

Rev. Dr. Joel C. Hunter

Robert Jones’ new book is a brilliant and eloquent epitaph for white Christian America. Jones deftly and insightfully shows how this new moment marked by white Christian America’s demise holds both promise and peril for those concerned about racial justice and the future of race relations in the country. This book is a must read!

Michael Eric Dyson

05/01/2016
Demographic and cultural shifts over the past few decades have led to a changing America in which the majority of people are not white Christians. Jones (Progressive & Religious), founding CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, examines this new reality and how it developed. Christian here includes both the mainline and Evangelical branches of Protestantism, each of which has increasingly lost political and social influence and power in recent years. Jones's analysis is an insightful combination of history, sociology, religious studies, and political science. Topics explored include same-sex marriage and religious liberty, the end of the GOP's "White Christian Strategy" (an outgrowth of its "Southern Strategy"), and the relationship between white Christian Americans and race. Throughout, Jones remains dispassionate, neither celebrating nor grieving these changes but meticulously documenting his claims with statistics and helpful graphics. He ends hopefully, with ways in which this population might explore different roles in American society. VERDICT This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers across the political spectrum who are interested in politics and religion. [See Prepub Alert, 1/11/16.]—Brian Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY

Library Journal

2016-04-11
A pundit considers the decline of Christian religious influence on American politics and culture.For most of America's history, white Protestantism has been a dominant cultural force, providing what E.J. Dionne calls "the civic and moral glue that held American public life together." A combination of demographic change and the abandonment of churches by younger generations may be bringing this era to an end, creating theological challenges for churches and political and cultural challenges for the nation. Public Religion Research Institute founding CEO Jones (Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life, 2008, etc.) charts the rise and decline of white Protestant churches and their cultural hegemony over the past century. He hits his stride in his description of the two great branches of American Protestantism, the mainline churches and the evangelicals, and their competition for cultural dominance, and in his all-too-brief conclusion, with its thoughtful consideration of how Protestant churches and American society could best adapt to the new dispensation. Unfortunately, a core definitional issue plagues the work. The author at first indistinctly defines the phrase "white Christian America" as "the domain of white Protestants in America"; Irish Catholics, for example, do not count. Further uncertainty persists throughout as Jones uses the term differently according to context, referring variously to a group of people today, a similar group in the past and their cultural norms, and even some evangelicals' social agenda. These constantly shifting meanings confuse readers and are reflected in a failure of topical focus, leading the author to pay excessive attention to well-documented but ultimately tangential discussions of sectarian foot-dragging on such issues as desegregation and gay rights and a purported "white Christian strategy" on the part of some Republican operatives. Finally, the author's thesis is overstated. Though white Protestants may no longer be a demographic majority or a dominant social force, they remain a significant social and political influence. A missed opportunity to explore an important cultural change in the making.

Kirkus Reviews