8% of young Americans dropped out of Christianity: Why?

[Nazaroo]

What do you think of this article's analysis?

... On Tuesday, Pew Research released a new study finding a radical increase in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans. That increase correlated strongly with the decrease in the number of Catholics, mainline Protestants, and evangelical Protestants over the past seven years. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/13/why-americans-are-abandoning-religion/ ... Meanwhile, the number of self-identified Christians dropped from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent as of last year. There has been religious growth in certain areas: Jewish self-identification has risen from 1.7 percent in 2007 to 1.9 percent in 2014; Muslim self-identification more than doubled, from 0.4 percent to 0.9 percent. So why the massive drop in religious affiliation? The New York Times would have Americans believe that religion has stumbled because of its involvement in politics: The report does not offer an explanation for the decline of the Christian population, but the low levels of Christian affiliation among the young, well educated and affluent are consistent with prevailing theories for the rise of the unaffiliated, like the politicization of religion by American conservatives. ​ This is precisely backwards. American conservatives did not politicize religion. American leftists did. That’s why The New York Times sees fit to run shocked headlines every time Pope Francis reiterates that the Catholic Church remains against same-sex marriage, as has been its position since the time of Jesus. The Church didn’t change, but the left has politicized issues, like marriage and same-sex marriage, upon which there was once unanimity, and pretended that only religious bigotry could justify any position different than their own. Religious Americans didn’t start speaking out about abortion because American conservatives hijacked religion. They started speaking out about abortion because American leftists hijacked politics and used those politics to assault religion. In truth, the decline of American religious practice can be traced not to the intransigence of America’s religious institutions, but to their desperate attempts to “reach out” to young people by forsaking key values. Values alienate. Behavioral requirements alienate. Talk about sin alienates. Talk about heaven and hell alienates. And so religious institutions decided not to focus on such uncomfortable but eternal truths in order to fill pews. Major religious institutions across the United States decided that it would be more effective to draw constituents with honey rather than vinegar – forgetting, of course, that religion isn’t either. Religion is fine wine: it may taste bitter when it first hits the tongue, but it is rich, sweet, and beautiful when you know what you’re drinking. Religion without standards is kumbaya happy talk, requiring neither God nor church. Churches, in an effort to avoid losing government-guaranteed tax-exempt status, stopped speaking out about secular assaults on religious freedom. They stopped speaking against candidates who embraced the murder of the unborn or the corruption of the marital institution via governmental embrace of “alternative family structures.” Instead, they suggested that church was for barbecues, get-togethers, date nights, and the occasional Psalm-reading session. Americans quickly realized that the churches had shifted focus from providing eternal truths to providing transient community-building exercises.And they realized that it’s a lot more fun to go to the beach on a Sunday morning than to sit on uncomfortable wooden benches. They realized the entire family would prefer attending a Dodger game than sitting through a three-hour synagogue service. When religious leaders decided to require less, rather than more, of their constituents, Americans decided religion was worthless. Religion is about upholding God’s standards. Abandoning those standards means abandoning God. Religion cannot survive as a cultural totem rather than as an embodiment of the word of the Living God.

 

[patrick jane]

What do you think of this article's analysis?

... On Tuesday, Pew Research released a new study finding a radical increase in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans. That increase correlated strongly with the decrease in the number of Catholics, mainline Protestants, and evangelical Protestants over the past seven years. you could put that in the TOL Topic of the Day Thread - but maybe 9% came to Christ, the other 8% will be back - :cigar: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/13/why-americans-are-abandoning-religion/ ... Meanwhile, the number of self-identified Christians dropped from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent as of last year. There has been religious growth in certain areas: Jewish self-identification has risen from 1.7 percent in 2007 to 1.9 percent in 2014; Muslim self-identification more than doubled, from 0.4 percent to 0.9 percent. So why the massive drop in religious affiliation? The New York Times would have Americans believe that religion has stumbled because of its involvement in politics: The report does not offer an explanation for the decline of the Christian population, but the low levels of Christian affiliation among the young, well educated and affluent are consistent with prevailing theories for the rise of the unaffiliated, like the politicization of religion by American conservatives. ​ This is precisely backwards. American conservatives did not politicize religion. American leftists did. That’s why The New York Times sees fit to run shocked headlines every time Pope Francis reiterates that the Catholic Church remains against same-sex marriage, as has been its position since the time of Jesus. The Church didn’t change, but the left has politicized issues, like marriage and same-sex marriage, upon which there was once unanimity, and pretended that only religious bigotry could justify any position different than their own. Religious Americans didn’t start speaking out about abortion because American conservatives hijacked religion. They started speaking out about abortion because American leftists hijacked politics and used those politics to assault religion. In truth, the decline of American religious practice can be traced not to the intransigence of America’s religious institutions, but to their desperate attempts to “reach out” to young people by forsaking key values. Values alienate. Behavioral requirements alienate. Talk about sin alienates. Talk about heaven and hell alienates. And so religious institutions decided not to focus on such uncomfortable but eternal truths in order to fill pews. Major religious institutions across the United States decided that it would be more effective to draw constituents with honey rather than vinegar – forgetting, of course, that religion isn’t either. Religion is fine wine: it may taste bitter when it first hits the tongue, but it is rich, sweet, and beautiful when you know what you’re drinking. Religion without standards is kumbaya happy talk, requiring neither God nor church. Churches, in an effort to avoid losing government-guaranteed tax-exempt status, stopped speaking out about secular assaults on religious freedom. They stopped speaking against candidates who embraced the murder of the unborn or the corruption of the marital institution via governmental embrace of “alternative family structures.” Instead, they suggested that church was for barbecues, get-togethers, date nights, and the occasional Psalm-reading session. Americans quickly realized that the churches had shifted focus from providing eternal truths to providing transient community-building exercises.And they realized that it’s a lot more fun to go to the beach on a Sunday morning than to sit on uncomfortable wooden benches. They realized the entire family would prefer attending a Dodger game than sitting through a three-hour synagogue service. When religious leaders decided to require less, rather than more, of their constituents, Americans decided religion was worthless. Religion is about upholding God’s standards. Abandoning those standards means abandoning God. Religion cannot survive as a cultural totem rather than as an embodiment of the word of the Living God.

 

[patrick jane]

What do you think of this article's analysis?

... On Tuesday, Pew Research released a new study finding a radical increase in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans. That increase correlated strongly with the decrease in the number of Catholics, mainline Protestants, and evangelical Protestants over the past seven years. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/13/why-americans-are-abandoning-religion/ ... Meanwhile, the number of self-identified Christians dropped from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent as of last year. There has been religious growth in certain areas: Jewish self-identification has risen from 1.7 percent in 2007 to 1.9 percent in 2014; Muslim self-identification more than doubled, from 0.4 percent to 0.9 percent. So why the massive drop in religious affiliation? The New York Times would have Americans believe that religion has stumbled because of its involvement in politics: The report does not offer an explanation for the decline of the Christian population, but the low levels of Christian affiliation among the young, well educated and affluent are consistent with prevailing theories for the rise of the unaffiliated, like the politicization of religion by American conservatives. ​ This is precisely backwards. American conservatives did not politicize religion. American leftists did. That’s why The New York Times sees fit to run shocked headlines every time Pope Francis reiterates that the Catholic Church remains against same-sex marriage, as has been its position since the time of Jesus. The Church didn’t change, but the left has politicized issues, like marriage and same-sex marriage, upon which there was once unanimity, and pretended that only religious bigotry could justify any position different than their own. Religious Americans didn’t start speaking out about abortion because American conservatives hijacked religion. They started speaking out about abortion because American leftists hijacked politics and used those politics to assault religion. In truth, the decline of American religious practice can be traced not to the intransigence of America’s religious institutions, but to their desperate attempts to “reach out” to young people by forsaking key values. Values alienate. Behavioral requirements alienate. Talk about sin alienates. Talk about heaven and hell alienates. And so religious institutions decided not to focus on such uncomfortable but eternal truths in order to fill pews. Major religious institutions across the United States decided that it would be more effective to draw constituents with honey rather than vinegar – forgetting, of course, that religion isn’t either. Religion is fine wine: it may taste bitter when it first hits the tongue, but it is rich, sweet, and beautiful when you know what you’re drinking. Religion without standards is kumbaya happy talk, requiring neither God nor church. Churches, in an effort to avoid losing government-guaranteed tax-exempt status, stopped speaking out about secular assaults on religious freedom. They stopped speaking against candidates who embraced the murder of the unborn or the corruption of the marital institution via governmental embrace of “alternative family structures.” Instead, they suggested that church was for barbecues, get-togethers, date nights, and the occasional Psalm-reading session. Americans quickly realized that the churches had shifted focus from providing eternal truths to providing transient community-building exercises.And they realized that it’s a lot more fun to go to the beach on a Sunday morning than to sit on uncomfortable wooden benches. They realized the entire family would prefer attending a Dodger game than sitting through a three-hour synagogue service. When religious leaders decided to require less, rather than more, of their constituents, Americans decided religion was worthless. Religion is about upholding God’s standards. Abandoning those standards means abandoning God. Religion cannot survive as a cultural totem rather than as an embodiment of the word of the Living God.

you could put that in the TOL Topic of the Day Thread - but maybe 9% came to Christ, the other 8% will be back - :cigar:

 

[Buzzword]

This is why:

Please Stop Telling Us Why We're Leaving the Church


Now for the real question:
WHY IS THIS THREAD IN "POLITICS"?

 

[rexlunae]

I'm amazed that anyone is even a little surprised by this. It's the most obvious thing in the world that the tolerant environment in which most Millennials were raised is antithetical to the attitudes of the Christian Right, which has spent its political capital trying to defend bigotry against LGBT people, vilifying feminists, attacking women's reproductive health, and trying to inject religion into public situations where it clearly isn't shared or appropriate. There have been threads here on ToL by Christian Right-wingers about how stupid Millenials are. Just a couple of days ago, Bill O'Reilly claimed that hip-hop music was making kids anti-Christian, which is pretty well a demonstration of the fact that he is the genesis of his own imaginary problems. And you wonder why it is that Millenials have such dramatically different values from the people who do this? Really?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...ple-anti-christian-pinheads-like-you-are.html

American conservatives did not politicize religion. American leftists did.

Nonsense. If you believe that, you're lying to yourself. What was the "Moral Majority", or "Focus on the Family", or "Christian Voice", or the "Christian Broadcasting Network"? Why do so many of the arguments against gay marriage, or health care, have to do with the supposed "religious freedom" of often unrelated parties? Why is "under God" officially part of the Pledge of Allegiance in a supposedly secular country? Why is there such hand-wringing over the recognition of transgender issues from religious people, frequently paraphraising Genesis 1:27?

 

[shagster01]

When I left the church it had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with the facts I saw around me, realizing facts made religion look foolish.

 

[Buzzword]

When I left the church it had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with the facts I saw around me, realizing facts made religion look foolish.

This was my one bit of encouragement when my wife and I decided to leave the church we'd been married in due to a change in leadership that pushed the church in the opposite direction of growth.

The new pastor spouted anti-science rhetoric from the pulpit in his first sermon as pastor, and as I went into small convulsions at the level of blatant inaccuracies and propaganda being spewed, I looked over and saw similar convulsions in the youth group, as they fact-checked his words again and again on their phones, and realized he was completely and ludicrously WRONG.

 

[shagster01]

This was my one bit of encouragement when my wife and I decided to leave the church we'd been married in due to a change in leadership that pushed the church in the opposite direction of growth.

The new pastor spouted anti-science rhetoric from the pulpit in his first sermon as pastor, and as I went into small convulsions at the level of blatant inaccuracies and propaganda being spewed, I looked over and saw similar convulsions in the youth group, as they fact-checked his words again and again on their phones, and realized he was completely and ludicrously WRONG.

The ability to fact check on the spot, I think, has a lot to do with it.

 

[User Name]

When I left the church it had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with the facts I saw around me, realizing facts made religion look foolish.

Which "facts" are you referring to?

 

[shagster01]

Which "facts" are you referring to?

Absolutes, for one. Moral and positive/negative. They don't exsist unless we want them to.

Prayer, for another. One man's trash is another's treasure.

Also, the idea of basing your life off of a pile of translated stories compiled by a few men seems cult like. Especially since one often picks the translation they like the best out of such a variety. It's like a "create your own beliefs". And it's highlighted nowhere better than right here on this site, with so many varieties of opinion between believers about what is supposedly the same book.

Connecting to prayer, the world is illogical if we are indeed the species it is based around. I have found that harmony is achieved more closely if I listen to what is natural, rather than trying to make it listen to me. Thus, I discovered taoism. Not in a religious sense, but in a physical sense.

This answer is very vague, but I didn't want to write a book, and I'm typing on my phone.

 

[Rusha]

When I left the church it had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with the facts I saw around me, realizing facts made religion look foolish.

This was my one bit of encouragement when my wife and I decided to leave the church we'd been married in due to a change in leadership that pushed the church in the opposite direction of growth.

The new pastor spouted anti-science rhetoric from the pulpit in his first sermon as pastor, and as I went into small convulsions at the level of blatant inaccuracies and propaganda being spewed, I looked over and saw similar convulsions in the youth group, as they fact-checked his words again and again on their phones, and realized he was completely and ludicrously WRONG.

My leaving had nothing to do with anything in particular that my church was doing, but rather because I was finally at a point in my life when I was able to question the religion I grew up with.

 

[shagster01]

My leaving had nothing to do with anything in particular that my church was doing, but rather because I was finally at a point in my life when I was able to question the religion I grew up with.

Good way of putting it. I always say that if if christianity, islam, Buddhism, or whatever makes you happy and a better person, great. But that doesn't mean it's for all of us.

 

[Quetzal]

My leaving had nothing to do with anything in particular that my church was doing, but rather because I was finally at a point in my life when I was able to question the religion I grew up with.

This rings true with me, as well.

 

[patrick jane]

When I left the church it had nothing to do with politics. It had to do with the facts I saw around me, realizing facts made religion look foolish.

it's actually just the opposite for me. when i saw what you likely saw, i focused on the facts. facts make the Bible awesome ! ! ! - :thumb: