Millennials are leaving religion and not coming back

Better to have them entirely gone than weakening the Church from within.

I'm not sure it always correlates to their salvation or actual beliefs though, so I won't comment on that.

Sad but that happens.

Yep, our previous generation failed us by using guilt as a motivator.

All signs that the end is approaching.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; - 2 Thessalonians 2:3

And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.- Matthew 24:11-13

ReesePiece23 said:

Yep, our previous generation failed us by using guilt as a motivator.

Click to expand...

I disagree. I don't think the Boomers inculcated the religion that they had received onto their children. They basically turned it into a U2 concert with a coffee bar.

Protestant or Catholic, in most places I've been, it's about 1-in-10 who is genuinely motivated to practice the faith. Everybody else all have different reasons for being there. Millions of possibilities.

There's considerable friction involved with being a devout Christian in America these days. It has increased substantially in the last few decades and is likely to increase more. It may be that it's ultimately only the devout 1-in-10 who still practices the religion. I doubt that for a variety of reasons though.

Still, my point is that I see the Boomers' collective failure as turning the Christian faith into a program of therapeutic self-help with some loud electric guitars. And they seem genuinely mystified as to why their children want no part of that.

essentialsaltes said:

Millennials Are Leaving Religion And Not Coming Back

Social science research has long suggested that Americans’ relationship with religion has a tidal quality — people who were raised religious find themselves drifting away as young adults, only to be drawn back in when they find spouses and begin to raise their own families. Some argued that young adults just hadn’t yet been pulled back into the fold of organized religion, especially since they were hitting major milestones like marriage and parenthood later on.

But now many millennials have spouses, children and mortgages — and there’s little evidence of a corresponding surge in religious interest. A new national survey from the American Enterprise Institute of more than 2,500 Americans found a few reasons why millennials may not return to the religious fold. (One of the authors of this article helped conduct the survey.)

• For one thing, many millennials never had strong ties to religion to begin with, which means they were less likely to develop habits or associations that make it easier to return to a religious community.
• Young adults are also increasingly likely to have a spouse who is nonreligious, which may help reinforce their secular worldview.
• Changing views about the relationship between morality and religion also appear to have convinced many young parents that religious institutions are simply irrelevant or unnecessary for their children.

Click to expand...

This is a consequence of religion and dogma.

I doubt millennial are abandoning their familiar and social programming for no reason; social acceptance means a lot to many of us (especially for a generation that thrives on social networking).

Those of us who were supposed to be stewards of the Truth may have failed those who are looking for it. Very few leaders of any faith can behave in a completely selfless way (because, even human selflessness can be selfish.)

Being *spiritual* (but not religious) has increased in popularity, however. People have a hunger for God, but they aren't finding the food they need within traditional western religious institutions.

If we look back on history, you can literally see that in the places around the world, in high times of hardships be it government sanctioned murders etc (China to name one area) persecutions, whatever, you find that you have vast majorities seeking out God.

Then you see in great successes and supposed enlightened times of other areas, they bail out on God or have no interest, whatever the case.

Then, after decades or centuries, they fall on hardships again and come running back to God. Only to finally have success again and bail out again with the next generations after.

You start to see some sort of correlation. Its quite fascinating.

straykat said:

Better to have them entirely gone than weakening the Church from within.

I'm not sure it always correlates to their salvation or actual beliefs though, so I won't comment on that.

Click to expand...

I've always been impressed by the ability of Christians to switch arguments depending on which way membership growth/shrinkage patterns are moving.

So, in the Western world where Christianity is shrinking, shrinkage is a good thing based on the no true Scotsman fallacy and some agricultural mumbling about tares and wheat or sheep and goats.

In Africa or China, where growth is happening, growth is a good thing based on...growth. It appears that these growth centres are full of wheat, sheep and real Scotsmen.

It's a sort of "tails I win, heads you lose" argument".
OB

rockytopva said:

All signs that the end is approaching.

Click to expand...

Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”

essentialsaltes said:

We moved to a city and talked a lot about how we came to see all of this negativity from people who were highly religious and increasingly didn’t want a part in it.”

Click to expand...

essentialsaltes said:

“And in some ways I think many religious organizations are not good models for those teachings.”

Click to expand...

I hope most Christians will take these kinds of claims seriously. Even if the claim that Christians don't embody the gospel they preach is erroneous, these kinds of statements must be taken seriously. If I am truly a loving Christian, then it should pain me that I am perceived as not being so. How could we not want our love for others to be obvious? If someone says, "You say you love, but I don't see it." Then it's worth serious consideration. The one response that should not be given, even if it is true, is "You're wrong." If they're wrong, our actions will show the lie. We have no need to say anything.

What's weird to me is that so many people who leave the faith leave because of CHRISTIANS not because of a lack of belief. At least they cite the former as the main reason though likely the latter does not empower them to maintain their faith.

Almost all of my friends left the church. I'm not convinced many of them were meaningful participants in their faith to begin with. But I also know that several of them put no effort into doing so as they watched churches chastize and send out people with Love and agape in their heart. Two of my friends had pastors for parents and they both left. One of them left because the entire church said that he got sick because of believing in a certain doctrine and after he died were terribly abusive to his widow and absolutely castigated my friends who were young children at the time.

I truly think there will be some BIG surprised when God's just hand comes down upon some.

I see Christianity in America hardening as it sort of shrinks into its role as cultural-doctrine arm of the Republican Party.

Smaller but possibly hotter as the room for motion shrinks and the pressure builds.

rambot said:

What's weird to me is that so many people who leave the faith leave because of CHRISTIANS not because of a lack of belief. At least they cite the former as the main reason though likely the latter does not empower them to maintain their faith.

Almost all of my friends left the church. I'm not convinced many of them were meaningful participants in their faith to begin with. But I also know that several of them put no effort into doing so as they watched churches chastize and send out people with Love and agape in their heart. Two of my friends had pastors for parents and they both left. One of them left because the entire church said that he got sick because of believing in a certain doctrine and after he died were terribly abusive to his widow and absolutely castigated my friends who were young children at the time.

I truly think there will be some BIG surprised when God's just hand comes down upon some.

Click to expand...

I'm just glad I was secure in my faith before the Religious Right rose to predominance. I don't know if I could otherwise maintain it in the face of what we're seeing now f I didn't know any better..

I think this is a pattern that Churches have recognized for a while...thus the reason they've been getting more active in the political realm starting in the 1980's with the "religious right".

American Conservative commentator/journalist, George Will, had a good quote in an interview I listened to with him...

Paraphrasing since I don't remember the precise wording:
"When the heads of organized religious entities recognize that they're starting to lose their social authority to dictate the actions of the population, they'll aim to replace that with political authority".

...and that was precisely what started happening.

Back in the 40's & 50's, the Rabbi/Priest/Pastor/Reverend/etc... simply saying something during the weekly service was enough to make conform to a certain way (lifestyles, actions, etc...). After the 60's & 70's when the heads of religion started losing their grip on the ability to dictate other's actions based on their own preference, the immediately went looking for political alliances to codify their preferences into law.

Occams Barber said:

I've always been impressed by the ability of Christians to switch arguments depending on which way membership growth/shrinkage patterns are moving.

So, in the Western world where Christianity is shrinking, shrinkage is a good thing based on the no true Scotsman fallacy and some agricultural mumbling about tares and wheat or sheep and goats.

In Africa or China, where growth is happening, growth is a good thing based on...growth. It appears that these growth centres are full of wheat, sheep and real Scotsmen.

It's a sort of "tails I win, heads you lose" argument".
OB

Click to expand...

By "impressed", do you mean reading my mind and motivations from a small post and unloading verbal diarrhea? Cool story, bro.

Speedwell said:

I'm just glad I was secure in my faith before the Religious Right rose to predominance. I don't know if I could otherwise maintain it in the face of what we're seeing now f I didn't know any better..

Click to expand...

I really struggled for many years because of the rise of the Religious Right and their ilk, and after college, I didn't go to church for a LONG time and spent time exploring other faiths as I've always been a very spiritual person. It was only after I found out that not every Christian group is rigid, fundamentalist, and misogynistic that I seriously considered going back to church. While I never rejected Jesus, I had no plans of rejoining institutional Christianity.

When I got to the point of reading about Wesleyan faith and the Methodist movement, I was in love because Wesley seemed to put to words how I had been thinking concerning and emphasis on God's grace and love vs. the angry father god dangling his much-abused children over a fiery pit with threats of fire and torture if not strictly obedient, and even worse if you had the misfortune of being born biologically female or even of a race descended from Ham.

The Christian Right is worse than ever now, but it is the gift of the Holy Spirit that can keep us secure in his love even in the midst of all the hatefulness.