Millennials reject religion
Religious disaffiliation opens the door for the church to minister to young adults
Most people are not surprised to hear that fewer young Americans identify as religious or attend regular services than members of any other living generation.
It seems that millennials would rather skip youth group and Sunday service and opt to drop the religious practices of their parents. Thus, education, government, social practices and the like are being swallowed up in the ambiguity of secularism, while the conservatives of old tremble at the possible implications of a godless society.
Millennials— Twenty-five percent of millennials no longer affiliate with a particular faith or religion. Google Images
People in their 20s and early 30s account for more than a third of the country’s “nones,” an academic nickname for the religiously disaffiliated. Whether the generations before them like it or not, millennials are choosing to make their own rules regarding identity, marriage, life, relationships, morality and coping, which have been historically defined by religion.
Twenty-five percent of millennials are unaffiliated with any particular faith, rising above the 20 percent unaffiliated rate of Generation Y and even further above the six percent unaffiliated rate of the Greatest Generation (born before 1928), according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published in 2010.
However, it is intriguing to note that although millennials are not as religious as older Americans by some measures of religious observance, they are still as likely to engage in many practices that are considered “spiritual.”
According to the Pew researchers, 46 percent of these young adults say they feel a deep sense of wonder about the universe at least once a week, very similar to the statistic for older Americans.
Likewise, most also say they think about the meaning and purpose of life on a weekly basis (55 percent), again, similar to older generations. Roughly three-quarters of millennials feel a strong sense of gratitude or thankfulness at least weekly (76 percent), and 51 percent say they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at least once a week.
So while millennials are skipping out on church and organized religion, they are still asking the same life questions and experiencing the same longings. Without the Church to give these young people answers or direction, the web of secular humanism and relative truth is theirs to weave.
As Liberty students, present or former, it is crucial to consider the generational slide away from religion toward secularism and to conduct ourselves appropriately while building careers (Ecclesiastes 3:22) and relationships.
Religious rights, sexual orientation, economic disparity, immigration, abortion and other issues in the news today all stem from society’s apparent lack of biblical guidelines.
Though religion provides structure, it does not necessarily build relationships.
Corrie Mitchell, author of “Five Churchy Phrases Millennials Want to Hear,” highlights the fact that seven out of 10 millennials who left the church did not have a close friendship with an adult, and nearly nine out of 10 never had a mentor in the church.
“Many churches have tried to reinvent (themselves) by bringing in a hipster pastor, amping up social media presence, and opening a church café — but none of that will bring Millennials to the pews,” writes Mitchell. “Neither will watered-down Christian doctrine. Deep down, what Millennials crave is a church that will speak Jesus into our daily lives in a meaningful, authentic way.”
As Liberty students leave the homogeny of on-campus life and enter the secular world, there are a few truths about church history and about the gospel that cannot be forgotten.
Most importantly, Christ has already overcome the world, even at its most pagan and secular. God is always at work. Man is always sinful. Alas, there is nothing new under the sun.
“We make a huge mistake if we forget that people get saved one at a time as unique individuals, not as mere specimens of the ‘culture,’” theologian John Piper writes. “At any given moment in the secularization of our culture, God is at work in 10,000 ways to prepare particular individuals to hear the gospel.”
Rozenblum is an opinion writer.