There have been “seismic shifts” in America’s religious landscape over the last few decades with white Christians now being a minority, reveals a survey of 101,000 Americans.

Racial and ethnic changes are transforming nearly all major Christian denominations, stated the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) in a survey that it declared was the largest of its type focusing on American religious and denominational identity.

“Today, only 43% of Ameri-cans identify as white Christian, and only 30% as white Protest-ant,” said PRRI about the survey results released Sept. 6. “In 1976, roughly eight in ten (81%) Americans identified as white and identified with a Christian denomination. A majority (55%) were white Protestants.”

The survey found a large shift in the makeup of the American Catholic Church with a large rise of Hispanics faithful in recent years.

In 1991, 87% of Catholics were white, non-Hispanic. Today they account for 55%. “Among Catholics under the age of 30, fewer than four in ten (36%) are white, non-Hispanic, compared to 52% who are His-panic,” said PRRI.

America’s 70 million Catho-lics make up 22% of the country’s 322 million people.

While Christians make up nearly 70% of Americans, the survey found a sharp increase in the numbers of the religiously unaffiliated who make up around a quarter of the population. The religiously unaffiliated includes atheists, agnostics, and those who don’t identify with any specific religion.