Two weeks ago I wrote about George Barna’s "The Seven Faith Tribes," which includes the categorization of 66 percent of the adult population as casual Christians, compared to just 16 percent as captive Christians.

That Barna identifies four times as many people as casual believers helps explain recent news stories about the decline of faith in America.

They originated with stories like this one about a survey by Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., which found 75 percent of Americans call themselves Christians, an 11 percent decrease since 1990. It also said those who claim no religion rose from 8 percent to 15 percent.

Some have since greeted this seemingly gloomy news with cheer, like the non-denominational pastor who finds it encouraging.

"Label lovers, don’t be alarmed," he wrote on his blog. "I haven’t given up my commitment to the life-giving message and faith-guided way of Jesus. It’s just that the terminology isn’t necessary."

Added a professor at Campbell University’s divinity school in his column, "I’ve long observed that wearing a Christian label and living a Christian life are two different things…There’s a reason why many believers these days are opting for the term ‘Christ-followers.’"

I started thinking more about this because of an e-mail this week from a church planter in New England. He noted that he has been reflecting on the apparent decline of faith compared to his experience.

The question he keeps asking: If evangelical churches are growing so rapidly in Vermont, how can it still be the least churched state in the nation?

"I also wonder—if there is a disconnect between the statistics and reality in Vermont, does the same thing hold true across the rest of the nation?" he says.

While he doesn’t know of a scientific poll about this disparity, his explanation lies in a belief that many who used to call themselves Christians did so out of tradition or habit. Instead of a personal commitment, their image of Christianity was either a vague concept or similar to membership in a social club.

With so many televangelists gone bad and priests arrested for molesting children in recent times, anyone with a bland identification with church would distance themselves from it, he writes.

"Therefore the number of people indicating they are Christians has naturally dropped as these individuals who were on the fringe anyway no longer identify themselves as Christians," he says. "However, it is my belief that the number of actual committed Christians has remained relatively the same.

"Thus Christianity itself is not in decline. People are simply more honest about their commitment, or lack thereof, in the past….I have not witnessed a great falling away of ‘committed’ Christians, though I have seen a great decline in people who were only sporadic in their commitment."

I suspect he is right. His remarks reminded me of attorney David French’s book, "A Season for Justice." In it, French recalls growing up in the era of approved school prayer, which in reality meant most students dozed or talked during this supposed sacred moment. And, there was little sign of spiritual vitality among the student body.

When he returned for a visit after prayer had lost its "favored" status, Christians were sparking far more spiritual activity on campus through a Bible club and personal witnessing.

The ultimate outcome of the loss of public prayer in school was vibrant evangelistic activity by the people who should have been doing it—students.

Likewise, though Christianity may appear to be under siege according to the headlines, what may also be happening is a divine sifting of the wheat from the chaff.