Written by Patience Griswold

Pew Research recently released a report on an accelerating trend in the U.S. — adults who were raised in Christian homes and who formerly described themselves as Christian leaving the Christian faith and joining the growing number of religious “nones.” According to Pew, nearly a third of those raised Christian describe themselves as “nothing in particular” as adults. This trend is expected to continue in the next few decades. Combined with a decrease in “transference” — that is, children who were raised in Christian homes becoming Christians themselves — Pew’s research team predicts that between 2050 and 2070, the majority of Americans will not describe themselves as Christians.

This trend is sobering because it shows that a growing number of people are living their lives without the hope of the gospel. While some of the decline in Christianity in the U.S. is likely due to a shift in cultural attitudes toward Christianity leading to fewer people describing themselves as Christians without holding strong convictions, the rise of “deconstruction” has seen a not insignificant number of young people who once expressed zeal for their faith now rejecting Christianity.

Pew’s prediction is that this shift won’t see its full effect until 30 to 50 years from now. However, their research and research from other groups show that America’s teens and young adults are already experiencing this shift. Atheism is more widespread among Generation Z than any previous generation in the U.S. Just over half of America’s teenagers are Christians, and a little less than half of adults in their 20s.

In an increasingly secular culture, young people are facing enormous pressures, and these pressures are often personal as holding to biblical teaching on things like sexuality, or even the idea that there is only one way to salvation, can quickly get a person labeled as a hateful bigot and socially ostracized. In addition, many Evangelicals of all age demographics are struggling to grasp basic teachings of the Christian faith. Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research release a “State of Theology” survey every two years and the most recent findings revealed that nearly half of Bible-believing Evangelicals say that God “learns and adapts to different circumstances” and 65 percent believe that people are born without original sin.

For many, deconstruction is not simply an issue of intellectual doubt. In fact, that may not be the driving force at all. Rather, it is a combination of an onslaught of social pressures and the lack of a thorough understanding of the basics of the Christian faith. Regardless of someone’s reason for deconstructing, whether it was a lack of sincerity in the first place, intellectual doubts, a weak grasp of biblical teaching, or an inability to face the pressure of an increasingly secular society, our hearts toward them should be one that deeply desires to see them reconciled to God because, through Christ, we have been reconciled.  

The rapid decline of Christianity in the U.S. means that for a growing number of people, especially young people, the idea that life has meaning and purpose is not assumed. This has implications that go beyond the individual. Throughout history, the idea that humans have innate value and dignity has been the exception, rather than the norm. Apart from the realization that humans are inherently valuable because they are created in the image of God, societies do not typically establish laws that reflect and uphold human dignity, especially for the most vulnerable.

So how do we respond to the rise in secularization, especially among the next generation? How do we equip today’s young people to be lights in a dark world?

First, as noted earlier, too many Christians are missing a basic grasp of key doctrines. Sincerity is not a replacement for substance. Young people will have their faith challenged and they need to understand what they believe and why.

Secondly, the next generation needs the local church. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation — we are part of a body, and body parts do not thrive, or for that matter survive, if they are unattached to the rest of the body. Older adults need to model what a lifestyle of discipleship looks like, and young people need to invest in community with other believers in order to learn from and imitate more mature believers.

Thirdly, it is vital for each of us to remember that love and compassion cannot exist without the truth. Many of the most significant pressures facing today’s young people are coming from movements that describe themselves as loving, compassionate, and accepting but are at odds with the truth. True compassion and love never affirm lies, and it is unloving to refuse to speak the truth out of fear of what others will think.

Finally, we must remember that we are called to faithfulness, no matter the circumstances. The gospel transforms lives, and transformed people transform communities and culture. We are called to live in a way that glorifies God, to proclaim the truth, and to trust him with the results.

The decline of Christianity in the U.S. should grieve us because it has real consequences for coming generations and reveals the number of people who are living their lives without the hope of the gospel.  As the rising generation faces the challenge of living in an increasingly secular culture, we must equip them to know, love, and live out the truth of God’s word.

This article was originally published at MFC.org.

For the last few years the fastest growing group in religion are the “Nones.” Not the kind that wear black and white habits, but the kind that don’t identify with any religion at all. According to the American Family Survey they made up 35 percent of the population in 2018, up from 16 percent in 2007!

Meanwhile, in that same time period, Pew Research Center found that the number of adults who identified as Christians declined 13 percent to 65 percent, while members of non-Christian religions have grown “modestly.” What’s more, 44 percent of adults age 18-29 identify as Nones.

In today’s cultural and political climates, some would assume conservative young people might be more likely to question their religious roots, but the sharpest declines are in the more liberal denominations. Ryan Burge, from Eastern Illinois University, studied data released earlier this year by the General Social Survey. He told the National Catholic Reporter, “The rise of the religiously unaffiliated tracks closely with the decline of mainline Protestantism beginning in the early 1990s.”

Timothy Beal, professor of religion at Case Western Reserve University, wrote in a Wall Street Journal essay,

“What many Nones have in common is a tragically narrow understanding of religion—namely, that a religion is a fixed set of teachings and positions, and that to be religious is to submit to them without question. It is presumed that religion is authoritative, univocal and changeless, and that religious identity is essentially a matter of passive adherence.”

Sharing examples from his classes, Beal told how he has given his students opportunities to argue topics from the Bible using verses they believe support their points in mock trials. He found, “The students learned that there are intellectually responsible arguments by people of faith on all sides.”

Because of this he thinks while the number of Nones will continue to increase in the future, “What we need is sustained conversation in a context that allows and even welcomes different experiences and points of view,” said Beal. “When it comes to religion, Nones are almost never nothing at all.”

“Christian parents and grandparents must become aware of the times and understand how vitally important it is to teach a Biblical worldview to our families,” says IFI’s David Smith. “It is not sufficient just to attend church services a few times a month. Having our children firmly anchored in the Christian faith requires that we teach God’s Word every day (when possible) and take advantage of current events and pop culture to discuss relevant issues through a traditional Judeo-Christian lens.”

Smith continued, “Scripture commands and warns us to impress upon our children and grandchildren a love of the Lord (Deut. 6:4-9; Mat. 28:19-20; Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4; Ps. 78:2-4).  Make no mistake, the godless left are working overtime to disciple our children and everyone else’s. If we don’t take our job of passing down our faith, others will gladly fill the void, and are already doing so.

Smith cites Luke 6:40 as a warning:

“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.”

“That is the bottom line,” cautions Smith. “Do we know who’s teaching our children?”

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-and, please-

Life is so precious, and the right to life recognized as a “natural” or God-given right, so much so that it was codified in our Declaration of Independence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Note that the “right to life” is given preeminence: without life no other right is necessary. And “unalienable” further emphasizes the untouchable nature of that right: mankind was gifted life by its Creator — the Lord God Almighty — and no man or government can take that right away except in the case of a proven capital crime.

Indeed, within each man and woman is the longing to live as well and as long as possible on this earth, in spite of hardship or physical pain. Even terminal patients, given adequate pain-relieving drugs, don’t wish to hasten death, but to live every moment to the fullest.

Joni Eareckson Tada, paralyzed and a quadriplegic since a diving accident in 1967, speaks to the issue of disability versus death following the release of the awful movie, Me Before You:

In light of the fact that California’s new physician-assisted suicide law goes into effect tomorrow (Thursday, June 9), following closely on the heels of the newly-released film, Me Before You, I wanted to sound an alarm about this egregious legislation and the glamorization of it.

In the movie, the quadriplegic says to his loved one, “I don’t want you to miss all the things someone else can give you.” Instead, he took away everything she wanted from him – his love and the essence of who he was – when he decided to end his life. Not only does this movie glamorize assisted suicide; it conveys the distinct impression that marriage to someone with quadriplegia is too hard, too demanding and sorely lacks the joys of typical marriage.

Regardless of whether or not in the context of a marriage, the taking of one’s own life or enabling a loved one with a disability to do so is never the answer. All life is created in the image of God and worth our greatest efforts to preserve and protect, and He alone is the one who should order the length of our days.

Some will assert that pain is an adequate reason for euthanasia, and yet, pain specialists state that properly administered drugs can provide at least good relief in 97% of all cases.

The final reason people may consider suicide is depression. And yet, depression can be alleviated via properly prescribed medicines and/or sound counseling. Thus suicide is a permanent “solution” to a temporary situation or mindset.

Scripture admonishes us to choose life:

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

So, with all the advances in pain meds and availability of rock solid counseling, why is the teen suicide rate soaring?

In a USA Today article, “Teen suicide is soaring. Do spotty mental health and addiction treatment share blame?” authors Jayne O’Donnell and Anne Saker write:

The suicide rate for white children and teens between 10 and 17 was up 70% between 2006 and 2016, the latest data analysis available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although black children and teens kill themselves less often than white youth do, the rate of increase was higher — 77%.

A study of pediatric hospitals released last May found admissions of patients ages 5 to 17 for suicidal thoughts and actions more than doubled from 2008 to 2015. The group at highest risk for suicide are white males between 14 and 21.

Experts and teens cite myriad reasons, including spotty mental health screening, poor access to mental health services and resistance among young men and people of color to admit they have a problem and seek care.

In other words, the experts have no idea.

And yet, for decades the “experts” have been telling students in government schools that they are the by-product of mere chance.

Author Frank Peretti sums up the abysmally depressing instruction:

Kids, welcome to Biology 101. We’re going to learn lots of fun things in this class. We’re going to learn how…we’re going to cut up frogs and we’re going to pick flowers. We’re going to learn about pistils and stamens and all kinds of fun things.

But the first thing you need to know, boys and girls, above all else is that YOU are an ACCIDENT!

You have absolutely no reason for being here! There is no meaning, no purpose to your life!

You are nothing but a meaningless conglomeration of molecules that came together purely by chance billions and billions of years ago.

All the dust and the gas in the galaxy floated around for who knows how long and they bumped into each other and said, “I know! Let’s be organic! So they became organic. And they became little gooey, slimy things, you know, swimming around in the primordial soup.

And they finally grew little feet and they crawled up on the land and they grew fur and feathers and became higher forms of life. And they finally became a monkey and the monkey developed into an ape, and then the ape decided to shave. So he shaved and became what you are today.

From goo to you by way of the zoo!

Add to that thoroughly gloomy “naturalist” teaching the Pew chronicled “Nones on the Rise” and you have a recipe for mental and spiritual utter despondency.

Pew Research reported:

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).

. . .

The growth in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans – sometimes called the rise of the “nones” – is largely driven by generational replacement, the gradual supplanting of older generations by newer ones.

You may have heard Mainstream Media touting that “religion is dying.” But that’s not the story at all. Rather, affiliation in mainline Protestant and Catholic denominations is dying.

So we have several generations of youth taught from the earliest grades that they are nothing more than the result of a cosmic accident in school and receiving zero countermanding instruction in the home or in church.

That is a recipe for depression.

Add to that the disdain for life itself demonstrated by Planned Parenthood and every pro-abort in America, the implication being you’re an accident of nature, and if you in any way inconvenience your parents (who are also, by the way, just accidents of nature), then they will happily kill you before you’re born in the most painful way imaginable. And they may even allow Planned Parenthood to sell your poor little, mangled body parts for research to save other lives.

That, by the way, is a total enigma: why bother to do research to save lives of people who are an accident of nature and somehow, by random chance, managed to escape the abortionist’s butchery and were actually born!

The real question should not be “Why the high teen suicide rate?” but rather, “Why aren’t more teens taking their lives given an education and society that tells them they are an accident, that life means nothing, and that there is no hope after this life on earth!”

King David wrote:

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:14)

Which brings us back full circle to our Declaration of Independence, written by the Founders who believed and were informed by the Bible. Those Founders knew what King David knew — that the Creator of the universe designed and breathed life into each person, that life is worth living because of the hope we have in God.

Again we look to the uplifting words of David:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

That is the hope we must share with the youth, and other generations of America. That is the remedy for the epidemic of suicide and depression.

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