It\u2019s now official. The United States is \u201cbigger, older, more Hispanic and Asian and less wedded to marriage and traditional families than it was in 1990.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Want more?” writes Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary professor James Emery White.\u00a0 “Okay. It is also ‘less enamored of kids, more embracing of several generations living under one roof, more inclusive of same-sex couples, more cognizant of multiracial identities, more suburban, less rural and leaning more to the south and west.”<\/p>\n
White is\u00a0the author of Christianity Today<\/em> magazine’s book-of-the-year award winner Embracing the Mysterious God<\/em> and a dozen other books, including\u00a0The Prayer God Longs For, A Mind for God <\/em>andChrist Among the Dragons. <\/em>On his website Church & Culture, he continues:<\/p>\n Why are such pronouncements now \u201cofficial\u201d? It\u2019s because the results of the 2010 Census have been pouring out all year and we are now in a position to begin pulling them all together into a cohesive picture.<\/p>\n As USA Today<\/em> rightly notes, \u201cThe end of the first decade of the 21st century marks a turning point in the nation\u2019s social, cultural, geographic, racial and ethnic fabric. It\u2019s a shift so profound that it reveals an American that seemed unlikely a mere 20 years ago \u2013 one that will influence the nation for years to come\u2026The metamorphosis over just two decades stuns even demographers and social observers.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But the changes are worldwide, he notes:<\/p>\n Consider Africa, where the number of Christians increased from ten million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000. So who is a typical world Christian? Think of a woman living in a village in Nigeria or in a Brazilian favela.<\/p>\n With the new Census, perhaps we can bring this home a bit, as in, \u201cWho is a typical American Christian?\u201d If you think the answer is a white, male Baptist living in the South, think again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n