A recent poll claims that young Americans are beginning to lose faith in God:
Now some folks may chalk it up to the "last days before Jesus returns." Others may call it a minor blip.
Personally I think the following has a lot to do with it:
Finger-pointing and lies never does any good, does it? What would Jesus do, indeed?
The poll, conducted in April by the Pew Research Center, showed that 31 percent of respondents under the age of 30 have doubts about the existence of God, compared to 9 percent of those polled who were 65 or older.
When asked to evaluate the statement, "I never doubted the existence of god," 18 percent of all respondents said that they mostly or completely disagreed.
Now some folks may chalk it up to the "last days before Jesus returns." Others may call it a minor blip.
Personally I think the following has a lot to do with it:
Finger-pointing and lies never does any good, does it? What would Jesus do, indeed?
I think that the whole negativity, lies, and other nonsense of the religious right might have led to more people doubting the existence of God. However, I suspect that a lot of what we're seeing also has to do with the fact that it's becoming more acceptable in many Christian circles to not only have doubts, but express them. Even when I was growing up in the church of the 80's and 90's, there was a great emphasis placed on absolute certainty and confidence. And while that emphasis still exists in some places, there are also people like Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and Rachel Held Evans who are promoting a faith that not only tolerates doubts, but affirms them.
ReplyDeleteWhen the supposed leaders are picking and choosing their bible verses, they are called into question. Many people eventually see through the "God hates people who I hate" preaching.
ReplyDeleteI love watching Al Franken apply his SNL-honed sense of comic timing to the clowns that testify in front of his Senate committees. Maybe we need to elect fewer lawyers and more stand-up comedians.
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