Posted on 09/25/2007 9:22:27 PM PDT by Terriergal
Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago, says a new study.
Tue, Sep. 25, 2007 Posted: 11:19:17 AM EST
Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago, says a new study.
Negative perceptions toward the Christian faith have outweighed the positive as a growing percentage of younger Americans associate with a faith outside Christianity.
Only 16 percent of non-Christians aged 16 to 29 years old said they have a "good impression" of Christianity, according to a report released Monday by The Barna Group. A decade ago, the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society,
Young people have an even lesser positive impression of evangelicals. Only 3 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds who are not of the Christian faith express favorable views of evangelicals. In the previous generation, 25 percent of young people had positive associations toward evangelicals.
"[Evangelicals] have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture," said the Barna report. "However, those negative views are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians."
Common negative perceptions among non-Christians is that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87 percent), hypocritical (85 percent), old-fashioned (78 percent), and too involved in politics (75 percent).
For the most part, Christians are aware of the greater degree of criticism toward Christianity. According to the study, 91 percent of the nation's evangelicals believe that "Americans are becoming more hostile and negative toward Christianity."
Half of senior pastors say that "ministry is more difficult than ever before because people are increasingly hostile and negative toward Christianity."
There were also some widely held favorable perceptions toward Christianity including beliefs that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82 percent), has good values and principles (76 percent), is friendly (71 percent), and is a faith they respect (55 percent).
Criticism, however, was not limited to young people outside the Christian faith. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical and too political. Also, one-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.
Moreover, the study showed a new image attached to the Christian faith that is growing in prominence over the last decade. Overall, 91 percent of young non-Christians and 80 percent of young churchgoers say present-day Christianity is "anti-homosexual."
"As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians," the Barna report stated.
Young Christians largely criticize the church, saying it has made homosexuality a "bigger sin" than anything else and that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.
Among other common impressions, 23 percent of young non-Christians said "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today's society no longer looks like Jesus." Young born-again Christians were just as likely to say the same (22 percent).
"That’s where the term 'unChristian' came from," said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group who presents the findings in his new book unChristian. "Young people are very candid. In our interviews, we kept encountering young people – both those inside the church and outside of it - who said that something was broken in the present-day expression of Christianity. Their perceptions about Christianity were not always accurate, but what surprised me was not only the severity of their frustration with Christians, but also how frequently young born again Christians expressed some of the very same comments as young non-Christians."
Research further revealed that those outside of Christian faith have had significant experience with Christians and Christian churches. On average, young non-Christians said they have five friends who are Christians; more than four out of five have attended a Christian church for a period of at least six months in the past; and half have previously considered becoming a Christian.
"Older generations more easily dismiss the criticism of those who are outsiders," Kinnaman said. "But we discovered that young leaders and young Christians are more aware of and concerned about the views of outsiders, because they are more likely to interact closely with such people. Their life is more deeply affected by the negative image of Christianity. For them, what Christianity looks like from an outsider’s perspective has greater relevance, because outsiders are more likely to be schoolmates, colleagues, and friends."
The declining reputation of Christianity correlates with shifting faith allegiances of Americans, the study pointed out.
Each new generation has a larger share of people who are not Christians, which includes atheists, agnostics, people with no faith orientation or people associated with another faith). Among adults over the age of 40, only about one-quarter associate with a non-Christian faith compared to 40 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds.
"This is not a passing fad wherein young people will become 'more Christian' as they grow up," according to the report. "While Christianity remains the typical experience and most common faith in America, a fundamental recalibration is occurring within the spiritual allegiance of America’s upcoming generations."
Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter
Luke 6:26 "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
Despite all the Scripture that tells us this is NORMAL and GOOD, this study will surely be used to point out how we must 'do church' differently so as to appease the unbelieving world.
(They conclude judgmentally without seeing any contradiction at all)
...hypocritical (85 percent)...
(Come on in, the water's fine...so I guess if, say, 15% of the above 85% are living purely all-out pagan lives, well, at least their not hypocritical & should be commended for that?)
...old-fashioned (78 percent)...
(Hey, I'd tatoo my tongue and put pins thru my Adam's apple if I really thought it'd win 'em over...)
...and too involved in politics (75 percent)
(Yeah, those "zealots!" More than half of them can't even make it to a voting booth every year or every other year...Boy, real radical)
Also Jesus said... Blessed are ye, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you], and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. -- Mat 5:11
Times sure haven't changed much, have they.
“Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago, says a new study.”
We are taking the same road Europe is taking. Good news for the ROP.
The problem is also how some of the more outspoken Christians represent themselves. They are too busy verbally casting stones at people. There are a lot of Christians who aren’t very Christ-like. Just take a look at some of the religion threads. Different Christian religions bash each other continually. I know it’s always been that way, but it just seems so loud lately. To anyone on the outside it makes Christianity look bad. I don’t remember the exact quote Ghandi once made, but it was along the lines that he liked Jesus Christ and what he taught and that many Christians did not act like Him.
OK, amidst some less than center-of-target "hits" that some of the comments in this article masquerades as, this comment may certainly constitute a legit crit.
Still, it raises questions:(1) Do the survey respondents even know the difference between, say, an evangelical and, say, a door-knocking Mormon? Or the difference between an evangelical and a mainliner? Or do they just lump all zealous religious folk into one dirty-clothes hamper?
(2) My next question is that if this broad % of respondents could say "this NO LONGER looks Jesus," then that implies either (a) they at one time had a good portrait of Jesus (perhaps thru a parent); or, (b) they could point to a recent time in our cultural history (I mean these are 16-29 yo after all) to where Christianity did indeed "look like Jesus." (But is 2007 "Christianity" really "smudged up" in comparison, to say, 1995 "Christianity?")
Finally, what about the seeming comparison of "no longer" looks like Jesus. Does that mean our culture is "chock full" of seasons where it looked like Jesus? (Well, yes and no. On the negative side, certainly there's been plenty of seasons of our country's life where the image of American Christianity compared to the aura of Christ was hard to pick up...slave-owner 'Christianity,' for example..."get-out-of-my-way-go-to-your-reservation-while-I-break-another-treaty-with-you" 'Christianity'...etc.)
You're not casting a stone here at alleged stone-casters, are you?
There are a lot of Christians who aren’t very Christ-like.
Please define "Christ-like" (and please include a full-fledged portrait of Christ...one that includes chapter after chapter of how He treated the Pharisees...I think, for example, if folks read just small portions of those who were with Christ, they might be surprised...
For example: Luke, chapter 12: "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother in-law." (verses 51-53)
Or if somebody reviewed Luke 3 (where the Pharisees are called "you brood of vipers") or another place where he calls them whitewashed tombstones, or other places like Luke 14, Luke 20, Matthew 21, Matthew 22, Matthew 23 (woe after woe in this chapter!) anyway, I think some readers would be very surprised at how the Pharisees were repeatedly "belittled" by the Christ of the gospels...
Just take a look at some of the religion threads. Different Christian religions bash each other continually.
Well, if this is a crit you have, and if you've offered it on one of these types of threads, then I guess you've just officially joined in in "bashing" whatever "different Christian religions" you're referring to.
You see, the real question is not "can we or can we not critique?" others...the real question might be more of tone and attitude ("speaking the truth IN LOVE") which is certainly a challenge for all of us. Just because a wife may at times "nag" her hubby, it doesn't always (or even usually) mean she is unloving or is heavy into hubby-"bashing." Just because a dad may "correct" a still-maturing teenage son, it doesn't mean the dad is "bash-happy," does it?
Absolutely, we are not to conform to the world, yet when scripture speaks of the world hating us, it is in the context of our being imitators of God. If we are (as a body or as individuals) bringing dishonor to God though not living up to His rightiousness, that is a different thing.
As I read this article, part of what I see is a wake up call to those who call themselves ‘Christian’. “Four out of five have attended a Christian church for a period of at least six months in the past; and half have previously considered becoming a Christian.”
There are always those who will criticise Christianity, but if we are bearing poor witness to those who are seeking to know Christ in their lives, perhaps we should examine ourselves more closely and pray that God create in us a new heart.
To be honest, I see much of the problem lying with secular or 'immature' Christians, who carry the name of Chist, yet live unregenerative lives. As well as an acceptance of Christ as Savior, we are to disciple believers in 'all that Jesus taught us', so that He is also fully our Lord.
May we be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, as Christ loves us and gave his life up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Eph 5:1)
This is the most useless survey I've ever seen by a Christian organization. What does Barna think he's trying to accomplish? Of course non-Christians will have a negative opinion of Christians. As you've pointed out we were told this would be the case. I suppose the real indicator would be if non-Christians had a positive opinion of Christians.
Propaganda works, Hitler knew it, Stalin knew it and their successors know it.
Propaganda works, Hitler knew it, Stalin knew it and their successors know it.
Indeed it does work. And we live in a time when a sizeable fraction of our population gets virtually all of its information about the wider world from television and the movies.
I think the church tends to one extreme or the other - looking like the world in an attempt to be liked by the enemy or hating the world without properly sending saints out to proclaim the gospel of Christ Jesus to every creature.
Narrow is the way. Many are called but few answer. Marvel not if the world you, it hated me first. Friendship with the world is enmity against God. If you would be a friend to the world, you cannot be a friend of God.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
bookmark
Sad isn’t it. I was amazed at the things my son’s conservative Christian school classmates would watch. I can imagine the effect this stuff has on unbelievers.
Translation: 75% over 40 identify themselves as Christian while in the 16 to 29 year old group, 60% identify themselves as Christian.
60% isn't that far off from 75%, yet at Barna's website they claim that these young people will not become "more Christian" as they grow up. And they make this claim without providing any evidence.
We can fix that. Get a rock.
You are 100% correct. This was not an unbiased study to research trends but instead was a study created to support a preconceived idea. If you want to know the agenda of this study you have to look at who is putting out the book "unChristian". It is a collaboration between David Kinnaman representing Barna and Gabe Lyons of the Fermi Project and is sold only on thier websites.
What is this agenda? Lets go to the Fremi Project website to see.
not arguing with you on the lack of representation of the gospel or the teachings of Christ. However, many evangelical churches are turning green, and also, I have read that the Vatican is going to make environmental stewardship a moral obligation. Christianity is becoming increasingly “green”
I agree with you. I think the televangelists and the Christians that are very political receive so much media coverage, they define Christianity for some. From there, I believe they confuse Religion for Christianity. There is a big difference between following the church (especially some of them) and following Christ.
Think of the “religious” leaders who are discovered to be closet homosexuals. Even as they preach against homosexuality each Sunday. Think of the televangelists that collect millions to enrich their own personal lifestyles, while claiming to be ministers of Christ. They do not represent Christianity, but I doubt that some realize this. If that was my only exposure to Christianity, I doubt I would have any favorable views on it either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.