Losing Their Religion

I am shedding "lyte" on trends today.  New research conducted by the Pew Forum on Faith In Public Life has found that younger Americans are significantly less likely to go to church than their parents and grandparents.

Typically the group of people who do not attend church are affectionately referred to as "nones".  I am sure no pun is intended, but I sincerely hope it was.  Anyway, historically this group has been small, averaging somewhere between 5 to 10%.  Not anymore, this rate has shot up to between 30 and 40% for young people.

Now these young folks are not atheists.  They just don't identify with a particular organized religion or attend services.  They may be more inclined to identify themselves as spiritual as opposed to religious. That's my conjecture, the poll did not ask that question.

To some, this is the end of civilization.  They claim that the more religious you are, the more likely you are to give to charity, volunteer, and vote.  But if the only charity you support is your church, and the only place you volunteer is your church, just how much of an impact is that going to have on society as a whole?  And given the turnout of young Americans in the last election, I don't think they are suddenly going to stop engaging in our political process.  Part of the reason that many young people have turned away from Christianity is that many denominations have grown increasingly political.  They have seen their churches turn away from their spiritual path to a more rigid, conservative and judgmental one.

Does this mean that America may no longer be a Christian nation?  I don't know or much care.  We don't have a national religion and thank goodness for that.  But I do know that I personally became disenchanted with Christianity when it became clear that to be considered a "good" Christian, you needed to vote Republican.  When members of my church stopped following the words of Christ and started using the Bible to support ideologies of hate.  Like I used to say to my Bible study group, "We killed Christ the first time he showed up, do you think we would do anything differently when she shows up again?"  Of course, my choice of a female pronoun would cause consternation,  another reason that Christianity just didn't "take" for me.  The whole idea that God couldn't possibly be female.  

So for me, I am comforted by the idea that young Americans are less religious.  If this leads to a more tolerant, diversified citizenry, I think our country will be better for it.  But then again, we don't want to turn into France..or do we?