ROBERT P. JONES
(Public Religion Research Institute)
At the beginning of the 21st century there were substantial demographic changes in America which eroded the majority historically held in America by White Christians. A smaller proportion of the American population were identifying with any religion. At the same time that Blacks and Hispanics were a larger proportion of new immigrants than were whites. And those minority groups both had a fertility rate that was substantially grater than that of whites. The result was that in the early 21st century the white Christians were losing their majority status in America.
As founder and head of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan organization that works at the nexus of religion, values, and public life, Jones has been a frequent commentator on issues relating to religion, culture, and politics and writes a regular column for The Atlantic online. Drawing on his studies from the last several decades, Dr. Jones, a former assistant professor of religious studies at Missouri State University, uses the fact that this country is no longer a majority Christian nation as a context for understanding many recent events and looks for a new way to frame American ideals within the changed demographic.
