As 2023 nears a close, the statistics on faith in America remain dismal. A projection by the Pew Research Center estimated that those in America who identify as Christian could shrink to 35 percent by 2070 based on current trends. An image of three large crosses displayed across the New York City skyline for Good Friday in 1956 went viral on social media as Christians lamented a post-Christian America. Even statistics that show a rising belief in Gen Z in a “higher power” point more to a rise of “moralistic therapeutic deism” than a rising belief in the God of the Bible. Gen Z tends to believe in a version of a god or higher power that makes them feel good, rather than Jesus as a member of the Godhead. 

Journalist Adrienne Bankert, however, recently pushed back against claims that Christianity in America is facing a death knell. Bankert recently hosted a special for NewsNation called “‘The Chosen’ Phenomenon” and spoke with CBN’s Billy Hallowell about the show’s impact on society. She stated she feels the show’s success shows a real hunger for a Christian “resurgence.” Bankert pointed at the massive reach of the show, which had been streamed more than the popular “Game of Thrones” at one point. “It’s massive,” she said. “They’ve already translated this series into 62-plus languages. When you break [it] down by episode, it’s been streamed 500 million times around the globe.”

She stated the story was “old as time” and could speak to many people. She noted that the impact of the show on the people she has spoken with makes her doubtful of the bleak picture polls are painting. “To think that in all these polls that people say, ‘I don’t believe in God,’ and that most people are angry with God, bitter with God, change their mind about God — I just don’t know who they’re talking to. Because a lot of people found their faith during these past few years. They found their faith in a time of crisis,” she said. She claimed that what she is seeing is a “resurgence,” not a decline. She noted a conversation she had with Rick Warren, who shared that people are coming to “an end of themselves.” She recommended a “higher level of scrutiny” over polling and the types of questions being asked. “The curiosity and the appetite for God is much stronger than perhaps any of these polls suggest,” she said. 

Hallowell agreed, noting the different polling numbers that can be drawn from an issue like abortion. “It really is so complicated,” he said, referring to how polling is done. He pointed to a mass baptism of 4500 people at an event hosted by Greg Laurie, the subject of “The Jesus Revolution,” which was a surprise hit this past year. He also noted that there may be a difference between those who are identifying more as “culturally Christian” versus those who are actually pursuing Christ. Bankert stated she believed many Christians don’t like to respond to polling. She encouraged the need to tell more stories. She hopes the special will help people to see the story of Jesus as being “centered on hope.” “That kind of recurring theme to me is something that so many of us can relate to.”