I'd guess about half of that identify as Christian because it's socially unacceptable to be agnostic. Church communities have more uses than simple religious worship. Ask any salesman.

>I'd guess about half of that identify as Christian because it's socially unacceptable to be agnostic.

That's much less an issue now than 50 years ago though, which is what's important when talking about a relative decline. It was much less socially acceptable to identify as agnostic in 1960 than it is today.

Still a huge issue in much of the US.

On this topic how many days a week do pastors work?

My dad was a music director and assistant pastor. He worked about 5 days a week, and also had another job on the side. Choir practice, church functions and services, preparing sermons, visiting sick church members, counseling members, and doing charity work add up to a good bit of time.

The pastors I'm familiar with all work a typical work week - 40 hours or more. Plus visiting the hospital, counseling, weddings, funerals etc.

Appeal to popularity is a bad argument.

But I think what the original poster intended was the decline in number of Americans attending a traditional church or believing in Christianity.

That shift is fairly pronounced, especially over the last two decades.

That's a valid point and some people below have valid points, too.

I was definitely speaking from my own social milieu (young to middle age tech workers).

In fact, the line from Christianity to work ethic is still so indistinct, many things would have to happen in order for us to make the jump to working less.

On the other hand, if the current younger generation is as unemployed as I understand it, then perhaps working fewer hours will simply be their default choice.

That's a good example of the echo chamber that HN and Silicon Valley have become. Removed from the rest of the country (and world) in so many ways...