Does Research support the “Christian America” Argument?
- Norman Viss
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
I was born, raised, and trained in a strong evangelical (Reformed) community. I spent the first 25 years of my adult life ministering formally from that community. Now, I do not call myself evangelical. That is not because I think the community was/is not well-intentioned and has everything wrong. Rather, I am convinced the community has aligned itself with modern Western culture more than it recognizes and is willing to admit, and that this alignment has produced some bad fruit.[1]
I follow certain evangelical leaders these days to listen to what they are saying, try to understand them, and, especially, learn more about what is happening in the community that raised me. One of the leaders I listen to semi-regularly is a nationally known Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) pastor and influencer. His name is not relevant for this article; I will link to his podcast below.[2]
Last week he interviewed Dr. Byron Johnson, Distinguished Professor at Baylor University and a prominent researcher on faith and human flourishing. Dr. Johnson is a serious academic, having authored or co-authored hundreds of academic articles and numerous major books focusing on religion, sociology, human flourishing, and criminal justice/rehabilitation.
The podcast web page provides its own summary of the podcast, which is entitled: “The Data is In: Christianity Makes Life Better”[3]: “Dr. Johnson’s message is clear: faith transforms individuals, strengthens communities, and helps people flourish. His research offers powerful evidence that biblical principles are not only spiritually true but also produce measurable benefits for society.”
I have followed this podcast over the last few years, coincident with the rise of Christian Nationalism, which – broad-brush - is the idea that America was a Christian nation, and to repair what is wrong with America we must go back to living and governing from Christian (biblical) principles. This podcast promotes this perspective quite intentionally and regularly.
In this interview, Dr. Johnson seems to support that thesis. He provides solid evidence that faith is a major factor that makes life better; we understand that faith to be the Christian faith; therefore, our goal of returning America to its Christian roots is the path toward making America better.
As I listened to this episode, I wondered more about what the podcast does not say than what it says. Using AI I looked a bit deeper into Dr. Johnson’s body of research. Two things stood out to me:
1) Dr. Johnson’s research is quite broad and diverse, and looks at various religious traditions, not just Christianity. In fact, The Global Flourishing Study explicitly extends beyond WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) predominantly Christian demographics to measure well-being across multiple faith traditions as well as the faith-unaffiliated. In an article he co-authored, Johnson noted:
"So, for us to have a global sample and to find that religious service attendance matters across the world is very significant... And because our sample size is so large, we’re going to be able to look at different religious traditions, not just Christianity."[4]
"Our numbers are still going to be very, very large and will allow us to do all kinds of special statistical analyses so that we'll be able to look at different world religions instead of just looking at Christianity, which is what we often look at. And this is an important point: what about people all across the world that have no religion? They don't believe in God, they're atheists... and since our size is so big, we'll also be looking at Buddhism and other world religions."[5]
Although the podcast gives the impression that the research is based on and about Christianity, in actuality Dr. Johnson explicitly included a wide variety of religious communities and persuasions in his study.
2) Johnson’s research shows that life satisfaction is not independent of a community of people who share the same religious and moral convictions.
“Religious communities seem to be an essential pathway to flourishing.”[6]
This is consistent with earlier research by Chaeyoon Lim and Robert Putnam, who write on religion, social networks, and well-being, which found “little evidence that other private or subjective aspects of religiosity affect life satisfaction independent of attendance and congregational friendship.”[7]
American (western) evangelicalism is distinctly individualistic. Most listeners to this podcast would immediately infer that “my own faith walk will lead to a better life for me”. That is not what the research shows: people do not flourish simply as individual practitioners of Christian faith. We need to be in community.
On August 20, 2026, David French published an Op-ed in the New York Times, in which he commented on recent comments by Vice President J.D. Vance. He quotes Vance from an interview with the Daily Wire podcast.
Vance: “In hindsight, part of why Milton Friedman’s ideas made more sense in the 1980s is because they were being advocated in a country that still had a very rich and powerful institutional Christianity.”
In other words, America used to have a rich and powerful institutional Christianity, but now it doesn’t. (French makes a number of comments about the hypocrisy, wrong assumptions, and the church/state implications of the quote, which you can read in French’s article below[8].)
The point for this article is that the Vice President of the United States is promoting the idea that well-being in the United States is closely related, if not dependent on, the presence of institutional Christianity. The current Administration, largely supported by white evangelicals, is making an explicit and public effort to integrate a particular evangelical Christian worldview into the policy and symbolism of the United States government.
To me this all fits together like a hand in a glove: Evangelical Christians are promoting explicitly and implicitly the idea that America was a Christian nation, that she is that no longer, and that only a return to Christianity can make our lives better again. Therefore, anything we can do to place Christianity in the place of power is a good thing, not only because it is true, but because it will make our lives better. There are numerous quotes from evangelical leaders throughout the last 10 years that indicate that their support of the Trump candidacy and presidency serves that purpose.
If you are still reading – kudos to you! - I want to conclude by making two points:
1) I believe it is incumbent on Christian leaders to represent our history and research accurately. I am still learning how incomplete most of the history and sociology I was taught was. It was not wrong, at least in its facts and dates; it was incomplete. With all that we know today, Christian leaders are called to do everything they can to be well-rounded and nuanced in their presentations.
2) We are now living in a pluralistic society. There is little evidence America will be dominated by white Christians as we move toward the future. Christian leaders must show us how to live as Christians in a largely hostile society in which we are the minority, as was the context of the New Testament. The New Testament nowhere calls Christians to establish political or religious dominance. Instead, Jesus-followers are called to live humble lives of love for God and neighbor, finding strength and wisdom from and deeply embedded in community.
Whatever “better life” means, it can only be found in the context of full-orbed contextual truth, community and the inclusion of everyone regardless of color or creed.
[1] There is a lot in these sentences which is beyond the scope of this article. Past and future articles help fill in and clarify.
[3] I find this a really odd title for the podcast. What is meant by “better life”? When did America have a “better life” than it has now? And for whom? And is a “better life” truly what the gospel offers us? There’s a lot just in this title for several articles, if not a book!
[4]Byron R. Johnson, interview in “Global Flourishing Study,” Baylor Connections, Season 8, Episode 818, April 30, 2025.
[5] Episode: "Dr. Byron Johnson – The Global Flourishing Study" * Original Air Date: November 5, 2021 (coinciding with the global rollout of the study).
[6] Tyler J. VanderWeele and Byron R. Johnson, “The Quest for Global Flourishing,” Christian Counseling Today 28, no. 3 (2025): 13.
[7] Chaeyoon Lim and Robert D. Putnam, “Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction,” American Sociological Review 75, no. 6 (2010): 914.
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