Posted on 12/16/2020 6:24:35 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The most common religious identity among young adults in the U.S. is "none," and the majority of Americans don’t believe it’s necessary for a person to believe in God to be moral and have good values, a new survey has found.
Released Tuesday, AEI’s Survey Center on American Life investigating contemporary religion in the U.S. found that among young adults (age 18 to 29), the most common religious identity today is none. More than one in three (34%) young adults are religiously unaffiliated.
Nearly nine in 10 (87%) Americans report they believe in God, but just over half (53%) report they believe in God without any doubts at all. Of these, more than eight in 10 white evangelical Protestants (87%) and black Protestants (83%) say they are absolutely certain God exists.
Overall, 42% of Americans have a close social connection with someone who is religiously unaffiliated — up from 18% in 2004.
Additionally, most Americans say it's not necessary for a person to believe in God to be moral and have good values. Close to six in 10 (59%) Americans say a belief in God is not a precondition to being moral and having good values, while 41% of the public say a belief in God is essential.
These statistics, the authors say, mark a “remarkable shift in recent years.”
The study also found that Americans are almost equally divided over whether it is better to discuss religious beliefs and ideas with those who do not share the same perspective, and most Americans have never been invited to church. A majority (54%) of Americans say they have not been asked to participate in a religious service in the past 12 months or have never been asked.
The survey corroborates a 2019 Pew Study survey that documented the decline of Christians and rise of religiously unaffiliated. Pew noted that the religiously unaffiliated group rose to 22.8% share of the population in 2014, eclipsing the number of Catholics in America, who fell to 20.8%.
Christians as a whole fell from 78.4 to 70% of the population between 2007 to 2014, with every major group experiencing a decline.
Similarly, the 2018 General Social Survey found that the number of religious “nones” in the U.S. are now statistically equal to the number of evangelicals.
Ryan Burge, a political science researcher at Eastern Illinois University who analyzed data from the survey, told The Christian Post that the religious “‘nones’ are not slowing down.”
“Their share of the population is continuing to climb 1% every two years and has done so for the past 15 years or so. If current trends keep up then they will be the largest group in the United States in the next five years, statistically.”
Russell Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, previously said the "increasing strangeness" of Christianity is actually "good news" for the church.
"Christianity isn't normal anymore. It never should have been. The increasing strangeness of Christianity might be bad news for America, but it's good news for the church. The major newspapers are telling us today that Christianity is dying, according to this new study, but what is clear from this study is exactly the opposite: while mainline traditions plummet, evangelical churches are remaining remarkably steady," Moore said in a statement.
He added that statistics indicate there are honest atheists in America today, and that they are rejecting what's called "almost-Christianity," or traditions that "jettison the historic teachings of the Church as soon as they become unfashionable."
"The churches that are thriving are the vibrant, countercultural congregations that aren't afraid to not be seen as normal to the surrounding culture. This report actually leaves me hopeful. The Bible Belt may fall. So be it," he continued.
"Christianity emerged from a Roman Empire hostile to the core to the idea of a crucified and resurrected Messiah. We've been on the wrong side of history since Rome, and it was enough to turn the world upside down."
As more and more places of worship have allowed themselves to be politicized, why would any young person subject themselves to that?
I can’t speak for anyone else but I’m far more fearful of God’s punishment than man’s.There are more than a few illegal things that I’d be inclined to do were it not for that fear.
Morality, maybe. Salvation, no.
“I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there. . . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests—and it was not there. . . . .in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there. . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
If an individual embraces the belief that they are the sole arbiter of right and wrong, they have in fact, set themself up as their own "god."
If you don’t stand for the Word,you’ll fall for anything.
Belief in God is not necessary for your own made-up morality. Which is always convenient.
You might be a moral person without God, but it wont get you into heaven.
“ I can’t speak for anyone else but I’m far more fearful of God’s punishment than man’s.There are more than a few illegal things that I’d be inclined to do were it not for that fear.”
*************
I think it’s not uncommon for young adults to go through a period of questioning and perhaps doubt. But, if they were raised in a church they usually return, often when they marry, have kids, etc.
Maybe there isn’t much to choose from. If you visit a “liberal” church you will be lectured about LGBTQWERTY or the environment. If you are into that, why not just support that without the nominal religious trappings of a “liberal” church? On the conservative side, it might be a mega church where you are just a number or it might be a church obsessed with odd things - you must believe the universe is 6,000 years old, or it is into elaborate end-times speculations, or a lot of legalistic things. A lot of people have had enough of all that and are done with church if that is all it is.
The falling away?
Upon what external, objective, transcendent Truth do they base their”morality”?
Without such a Truth, morality is subject to the vicissitudes of culture.
And if such a Truth does exist, then it must have an Origin.
Bookmarked for later reading.
I’m pretty sure a lot of people now worship Government. That is why they find validation in Government approving and even applauding their perverse behavior.
But in the end, they MAY be saying, “I am God. I determine right and wrong. And government must agree with me!”
If you don't believe in God, by what standards are your values "good?"
If you don't believe in God, what difference does it make if your actions are based on "good standards?" The end will always justify the means.
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams
We are NOW seeing exactly why that is...
“...Upon what external, objective, transcendent Truth do they base their ”morality”?
Without such a Truth, morality is subject to the vicissitudes of culture.
And if such a Truth does exist, then it must have an Origin....”
Ummm....that’s logic and common sense thinking.
That’s so old fashion and “out of it” in today’s culture....just ask a millennial, they’ll tell ya...and more.
The precise reason the statist seeks to drive God out of people's lives is to replace Him with the state as the arbiter of good and evil as well as the provider of people's needs. Secular materialism is essential to this end. People who believe in the immortality of the soul are going to be much harder to control than those who believe we're here for 70-80 years and that's it.
Exactly.
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.