In 2001, in The Death of the West, Pat Buchanan noted that, while economic Marxism had failed and come to an end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, cultural Marxism had triumphed. Its victory was responsible for a rapid de-Christianization of Western societies over the past four decades, due to the pernicious influence of various Marxist philosophers whose ideas, propagated by the counterculture, had become widespread. “Imagine there’s no heaven,” sang John Lennon in “Imagine,” no borders, no religion, and—since the rise of the woke movement—no genders. Buchanan painted a rather pessimistic picture of the future, though he may not have been able to imagine just how far the ‘woke’ delusion would go, with Western society—particularly American society—having turned its back on tradition. Has this been the case? Has ‘progress’ led to the retreat of religion? This is the question Pablo Mariñoso de Juana seeks to answer in his report “Una vuelta a la tradición: el renacimiento religioso en Estados Unidos” (A Return to Tradition: The Religious Renaissance in the United States), published by CEU CEFAS, whose conclusions refute the prophecies and mantras of progressivism: religion has not only not disappeared, but has returned to its roots.
From a purely statistical standpoint, there has been a steady decline in Christian identification in the United States over the past few decades. 62% of the U.S. population identifies as Christian, compared to 7% who identify with other religions and nearly 29% with no religious affiliation. Just a decade ago, the percentage of American Christians stood at 75%. However, as Mariñoso notes in his report, the figures take on a different meaning when viewed in perspective. The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study shows that Christianity—from Catholicism to the various Protestant denominations—has managed to maintain, with slight variations, its relative share of the total population.
The majority of American Christians—23%—identify as evangelical, followed by 20% who are Catholic, 11% who belong to mainline churches, 5% who are affiliated with black Protestant churches, and 2% who are Mormon. The main shift in faith in the United States has occurred among the once-dominant mainline churches, which are clearly in decline. As an example, Mariñoso cites the United Methodist Church, which has fallen from 5.1% of the faithful in 2007 to around 2.7% in 2023–24. What is the cause of this decline? The same factor affecting the Anglican Church, the Church of Sweden, and many other Protestant churches in Europe: the rejection of tradition and the embrace of wokeness and modernity. The United Methodist branch is a staunch supporter of LGBT ideology, and as a result, its churches are emptying out. Mainline churches, which once represented 30% of American Christians, are in deep decline.
The churches that aren’t losing members—and that attract the most young people—are those that have defended and maintained their identity: “It’s not surprising that, in times of moral confusion, existential emptiness, and rootlessness, traditional values are once again becoming a refuge,” notes Mariñoso, and the data prove him right: churches that abandon the Gospel for ‘social justice’ and ideology are losing their faithful to Catholic and evangelical communities that cherish the liturgy and unapologetically defend Christian anthropology regarding life and the family. The cure for de-Christianization is a return to the roots.
However, the shifting landscape of religion in the United States reveals another important aspect. According to the Pew Research Center’s most recent Religious Landscape Study (2023–24), the percentage of Americans who identify as Protestant has dropped from 51% in 2007 to 40%. This cannot be explained solely by the ‘modernization’ of the mainline churches, as all major Protestant denominations have lost members: Evangelicals have dropped from 26.3% to 23.1%; mainline Protestants have fallen from 18.1% to 11.5%; and Black churches have also declined from 6.9% to 5.4%. In contrast, the number of Catholics has remained stable and has grown to over 20% of the adult population.
The most recent surveys by the Pew Research Center indicate that 47% of U.S. adults have some connection to the Catholic faith, while the number of Catholics who attend Mass weekly stands at around 24%, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The increase in Sunday attendance is a result of a commitment to liturgical tradition and a return to orthodoxy, which is also reflected in the hierarchy of the U.S. Church. On November 11, 2025, the bishops of the United States elected Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma as the new president of the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville as vice president. Coakley is a traditionalist prelate known for his staunch defense of life, the family, and doctrine in the face of gender ideology. Flores, for his part, is a doctor of theology who comes from a predominantly Hispanic diocese.
Hispanic immigration is one of the key factors driving the demographic growth of Catholicism; according to Pew Research, 36% of Catholics are of Hispanic origin, and it is also a key factor in the renewal of the church’s community fabric. Thanks to Hispanics, the Catholic Church in the United States is younger, more family-oriented, and more engaged, but this is not the only reason for the revival of American Catholicism. The election of Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, has opened a new horizon for the Church, to which must be added the growing and increasingly visible presence of Catholics in positions of power, from the Supreme Court to Congress and the federal administration. In fact, the proportion of Catholics among federal employees and senior public officials is much higher than their share of the general population, and according to recent data, around 87% of members of Congress identify as Christian. Furthermore, Donald Trump’s potential successors, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, are practicing Catholics. 59% of the population views the influence of religion on public life in the United States positively; three years ago, that figure was 49%.
“In the United States, faith is not fading away, but rather being reshaped. Where different denominations have diluted their theological identity, the decline has been steep; where tradition has remained strong, vitality has been sustained,” concludes Mariñoso. A lesson that many in Europe would do well to learn.
A Return to Tradition: The Religious Renaissance in the United States
Álvaro Peñas
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In 2001, in The Death of the West, Pat Buchanan noted that, while economic Marxism had failed and come to an end with the fall of the Berlin Wall, cultural Marxism had triumphed. Its victory was responsible for a rapid de-Christianization of Western societies over the past four decades, due to the pernicious influence of various Marxist philosophers whose ideas, propagated by the counterculture, had become widespread. “Imagine there’s no heaven,” sang John Lennon in “Imagine,” no borders, no religion, and—since the rise of the woke movement—no genders. Buchanan painted a rather pessimistic picture of the future, though he may not have been able to imagine just how far the ‘woke’ delusion would go, with Western society—particularly American society—having turned its back on tradition. Has this been the case? Has ‘progress’ led to the retreat of religion? This is the question Pablo Mariñoso de Juana seeks to answer in his report “Una vuelta a la tradición: el renacimiento religioso en Estados Unidos” (A Return to Tradition: The Religious Renaissance in the United States), published by CEU CEFAS, whose conclusions refute the prophecies and mantras of progressivism: religion has not only not disappeared, but has returned to its roots.
From a purely statistical standpoint, there has been a steady decline in Christian identification in the United States over the past few decades. 62% of the U.S. population identifies as Christian, compared to 7% who identify with other religions and nearly 29% with no religious affiliation. Just a decade ago, the percentage of American Christians stood at 75%. However, as Mariñoso notes in his report, the figures take on a different meaning when viewed in perspective. The Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study shows that Christianity—from Catholicism to the various Protestant denominations—has managed to maintain, with slight variations, its relative share of the total population.
The majority of American Christians—23%—identify as evangelical, followed by 20% who are Catholic, 11% who belong to mainline churches, 5% who are affiliated with black Protestant churches, and 2% who are Mormon. The main shift in faith in the United States has occurred among the once-dominant mainline churches, which are clearly in decline. As an example, Mariñoso cites the United Methodist Church, which has fallen from 5.1% of the faithful in 2007 to around 2.7% in 2023–24. What is the cause of this decline? The same factor affecting the Anglican Church, the Church of Sweden, and many other Protestant churches in Europe: the rejection of tradition and the embrace of wokeness and modernity. The United Methodist branch is a staunch supporter of LGBT ideology, and as a result, its churches are emptying out. Mainline churches, which once represented 30% of American Christians, are in deep decline.
The churches that aren’t losing members—and that attract the most young people—are those that have defended and maintained their identity: “It’s not surprising that, in times of moral confusion, existential emptiness, and rootlessness, traditional values are once again becoming a refuge,” notes Mariñoso, and the data prove him right: churches that abandon the Gospel for ‘social justice’ and ideology are losing their faithful to Catholic and evangelical communities that cherish the liturgy and unapologetically defend Christian anthropology regarding life and the family. The cure for de-Christianization is a return to the roots.
However, the shifting landscape of religion in the United States reveals another important aspect. According to the Pew Research Center’s most recent Religious Landscape Study (2023–24), the percentage of Americans who identify as Protestant has dropped from 51% in 2007 to 40%. This cannot be explained solely by the ‘modernization’ of the mainline churches, as all major Protestant denominations have lost members: Evangelicals have dropped from 26.3% to 23.1%; mainline Protestants have fallen from 18.1% to 11.5%; and Black churches have also declined from 6.9% to 5.4%. In contrast, the number of Catholics has remained stable and has grown to over 20% of the adult population.
The most recent surveys by the Pew Research Center indicate that 47% of U.S. adults have some connection to the Catholic faith, while the number of Catholics who attend Mass weekly stands at around 24%, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The increase in Sunday attendance is a result of a commitment to liturgical tradition and a return to orthodoxy, which is also reflected in the hierarchy of the U.S. Church. On November 11, 2025, the bishops of the United States elected Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma as the new president of the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville as vice president. Coakley is a traditionalist prelate known for his staunch defense of life, the family, and doctrine in the face of gender ideology. Flores, for his part, is a doctor of theology who comes from a predominantly Hispanic diocese.
Hispanic immigration is one of the key factors driving the demographic growth of Catholicism; according to Pew Research, 36% of Catholics are of Hispanic origin, and it is also a key factor in the renewal of the church’s community fabric. Thanks to Hispanics, the Catholic Church in the United States is younger, more family-oriented, and more engaged, but this is not the only reason for the revival of American Catholicism. The election of Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, has opened a new horizon for the Church, to which must be added the growing and increasingly visible presence of Catholics in positions of power, from the Supreme Court to Congress and the federal administration. In fact, the proportion of Catholics among federal employees and senior public officials is much higher than their share of the general population, and according to recent data, around 87% of members of Congress identify as Christian. Furthermore, Donald Trump’s potential successors, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, are practicing Catholics. 59% of the population views the influence of religion on public life in the United States positively; three years ago, that figure was 49%.
“In the United States, faith is not fading away, but rather being reshaped. Where different denominations have diluted their theological identity, the decline has been steep; where tradition has remained strong, vitality has been sustained,” concludes Mariñoso. A lesson that many in Europe would do well to learn.
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