Posted on 11/04/2015 3:47:21 AM PST by NYer
Americans are becoming less religious, judging by such markers as church attendance, prayer and belief in God, and the trend is more pronounced among young adults, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still high compared with other advanced industrial countries, slipped to 89 percent in 2014 from 92 percent in 2007, according to the Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study.
The proportion of Americans who say they are "absolutely certain" God exists fell even more, to 63 percent in 2014 from 71 percent in 2007.
The percentage of Americans who pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion important in their lives are down by small, but statistically significant measures, the survey found.
The trend is most pronounced among young adults, with only half of those born from 1990 to 1996 absolutely certain of their belief in God, compared to 71 percent of the "silent generation," or those born from 1928 to 1945.
Younger people also are less likely to pray daily, at 39 percent, compared to "silent generation" adults at 67 percent. Young adults are also much less likely to attend religious services, the survey found.
On the other hand, 77 percent of Americans continue to identify with some religious faith, and those who do are just as committed now as they were in 2007, according to the survey. Two-thirds of religiously affiliated adults say they pray every day and that religion is very important to them, the survey found.
The survey also found religious divides among the political parties, with those who are not religiously affiliated more likely to be Democrats, at 28 percent, compared to 14 percent of Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Catholic ping!
Given the hostility to Christian faith in the schools and media, it’s hardly surprising. What is surprising is that most Christian parents keep giving their kids over to such influences for their upbringing.
That is what I see. It is a continued rejection of the older generations beliefs and a desire to try anything but God. We have to calculate into the equation I believe, television and secular education.
The church became increasingly feminized and now homosexualized which is a big turn off to the male species. When everything is acceptable then nothing has moral value.
They do and it is because they do not want to be bothered with parental responsibility for one and they do not want to make a decision that makes them an outlier in the herd. If they are rejecting God for the most part, then their life seems normal compared to everyone else. Preparing kids for life with God first would be much better than all the other things the world offers.
This is probably a good thing. It means that “cultural Christianity” is dying and only the remnant who are real disciples of Jesus Christ are left. I think it’s all part of God’s plan so that when Jesus does return, no one is going to be standing there saying, “but I went to church. Why do you say that you do not know me?”
The days of choosing a church for the quality of the coffee, the color of the carpet, and the availability of child care are drawing to a close.
If you look deeper I’m sure you’d see that more and more children have PARENTS that aren’t religious.
Would 89% to 92% be within a margin or error?
I would think people do not give up their belief so easily. What they do is unwittingly allow their belief to be corrupted, thus revealing that their belief may not be so solid.
Good. Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship with Christ.
>>I would think people do not give up their belief so easily. What they do is unwittingly allow their belief to be corrupted, thus revealing that their belief may not be so solid.
They never really had it. A person with real faith might drift away from church, but they won’t lose their faith enough to answer a poll question by saying that they don’t believe in God. A lot of people who practice “ChristAmericanity” (or cultural Christianity) are just people who are doing what was expected of them from our society. Today, society does not expect a businessman to be an Elder in the local church, so they devote that time to golf or watching football. They pass that attitude down to their children and the children never even get exposed to faith. Their idols are the XBox, iPhone, and money. Their god is themselves. The real God is just a character in a story to them...and he looks like Morgan Freeman.
Yet another reason we deserve President B.O. and the rest of the “leaders” in DC.
The various denominations arent taking Christianity seriously, so why should young people?
Islam (sadly), Hinduism, and Buddhists havent turned into plastic knock-offs of what their religions are, so is it any shock that they gain members while the cowards in the non-orthadox christian churches are losin millions?
But the good news is that this will give committed Christians the opportunity to be witnesses for the Gospel.
>>But the good news is that this will give committed Christians the opportunity to be witnesses for the Gospel.
It is always good news, but we have to face the reality that there will be an increasingly smaller number of ears who can hear the Gospel and those who cannot hear will not feel the need to politely listen and then decline to accept the gift. They will be cruel and angry that you brought them the gospel because it is poison to them.
That means that we will have to evangelize, but also to remember that their refusal to hear is not our failure (or God’s failure) and that we need to remember to shake the dust off our sandals and move on.
The rest of the world is waking up to find Christ and America has had its heart hardened and ears closed. Our nation (and not just one political party either!) has told God to go away and he has said, “OK”.
Yeah, that’s true. Sad. We need to work harder at teaching biblical truth and stop just trying to entertain people. Who knows when it will be the last opportunity to reach them.
A true Christian will enjoy God’s truth more than worldly entertainment.
“They will be cruel and angry that you brought them the gospel because it is poison to them.”
....Or rather needed medicine.
These are the famous “spiritual but not religious” people.
It is not medicine for them. They are not equipped by God to hear the gospel.
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