Experts warn that Christianity will be toppled by Islam as religious majority in America

(OPINION) Christianity, long the bedrock of American faith, faces a seismic shift. Once claiming 90% of the population in 1970, it now stands at 62%, per Pew Research Center projections. By 2070, it could plummet to 46%, ceding majority status to the religiously unaffiliated “nones” at 52%.
Islam, though a distant second with 4 million adherents, grows rapidly—adding 100,000 annually through immigration, high birth rates, and conversions.
US mosques jumped 31% from 2,106 in 2010 to 2,769 in 2020, according to the US Mosque Survey. Globally, Islam expanded 20.7% from 2010-2020, outpacing Christianity’s 5.7%.
In America, conversions thrive in prisons, with “tens of thousands of Americans… convert[ing] to Islam each year,” reports CBS. Muslims’ median age of 35 contrasts Christians’ 54, fueling demographic momentum.
While Islam advances, Christianity erodes from within. Over 1,500 churches closed between 2010-2020. Pastor Brent Madaris of Hometown Hope Ministries decries diluted doctrine: “Pastors are not preaching the whole counsel of God.
Seminaries are certifying people to lead churches who have no business doing so. Church youth groups major on games, attendance and fun rather than truth, biblical depth and spiritual fruit.” He warns of syncretism, where believers cherry-pick beliefs, unlike Islam’s rigor.
Dr. George Barna, of Arizona Christian University’s Cultural Research Center, echoes this: “The continued decline is neither surprising nor something that is likely to change in the near future unless dramatic changes are made.”
He attributes it to “families and churches today [having] relaxed standards for what constitutes Christianity,” plus a “competitive” religious marketplace flooded with alternatives and anti-Christian narratives. Barna adds, “The blending of faith beliefs and practices from numerous competing religions… has already profoundly infiltrated and redefined the American Christian community.”