But, assuming that many of you won't take the time to read the article, I'll give you a brief synopsis. According to the article, recent research has shown that younger generations of Americans are not abandoning faith--they are simply abandoning religion. And, according to some recent research, one major reason Millenials are abandoning religion is because of the strong ties between religion and conservative politics. Here's a quote from the article:
"Young Americans are dropping out of religion at an alarming rate of 5-6 times the historic rate (30-40 percent have no religion today versus 5-10 percent a generation ago)....But youth's religious disaffection is largely due to discomfort with religiosity having been tied to conservative politics."I find it interesting that in their "holy quest" to equate right-winged conservative American politics with the politics of Jesus, the Religious Right may actually be pushing an entire generation of young people further away from the Church, if not away from Jesus Himself.
Thoughts?
1 comment:
I have never commented on any of your blogs - I came across your blog sight through facebook. I was in Iraq while you were in South Africa and most of our posts were around the same time due to the time zones. You had posted something about your blog site so I checked it out. Anywho- I would agree with the article you read. Because I am one of those people who consider myself a christian but do not attend church. My personal beliefs can be very different than the church I was raised in. Maybe it's b/c my parents raised me to think for myself and to question things that seem wrong to me. Maybe it's b/c I've spent 26 months of my life in war. All I know is that to me the church seems hypocritical, controlling, and I feel very unwelcome and suffocated by people who are closed minded. I've seen a lot of things in this world, some really awful things and some really amazing things. Through all of my experiences I have at times moved farther from God and at times closer. But I would rather talk about my faith in small groups of friends or even strangers rather than in a church. I don't feel welcome in churches b/c I don't believe the way most do. My father is a minister and I have a very hard time going to see him at his church b/c I know what some people do to him. I know this must sound like a lot of rambling but I just really agree w/the article and I don't think there is a lot wrong with it.
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