This report, from USA Today, can be summed up with one word. Alarming. A survey was conducted of 18-29 year olds in America getting their views on how they see religion and faith in their lives and it appears that the socialistic system developed in America's public schools has been very successful in helping lead these young folks away from G_d and into the realm of the humanists. Look at these results from the survey:
This is all indicative about how religion and faith are now under constant attack in American society. From the new President of the USA stating that "America is not a Christian country anymore" to what is seemingly a monthly court battle by atheists to remove religious freedoms from the public square to that same President skipping out on National Prayer Day, the trend is apparent - the socialists' aim of demeaning and minimalizing religion in America is working and the effects of it on the young people is the most glaring.
Let's face it - we have public schools in this country more concerned with gay and lesbian sensitivity training, birth control seminars and abortion rights dissemination than with any kind of tolerance of prayer. I'd propose this experiment: Have a 12 year old boy walk the halls of his school singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and compare that school's administration's reaction to him to another 12 year old boy who distributes flyers to a gay pride parade. Got the picture in your mind?
Let me remind everyone of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It is my contention that the Federal government HAS prohibited the free exercise of religion in this land and one of the most glaring examples of that has been in our public schools. How many public schools DARE hold a Christmas concert nowadays? How many public schools will honor other religious holidays such as Easter (or do they only allow a few bunnies pasted on a wall)?
I would guess that the majority of American actually thought that 1st Amendment read, "There shall be a separation of Church and State." Read it again and tell me where you see that demanded separation. One of the best marketing schemes of the Left has been to take some writings of Thomas Jefferson and transform those thoughts into Constitutional law. The fact of the matter is this - many of our forefathers came to America to ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. They fled their homelands either because their nation had installed a national religion (the first protection provided by the amendment) or they were prohibited from openly practicing their faith (the second protection provided by the amendment).
It is my claim that our public schools are actively engaged in censorship of religious freedoms - there is no tolerance of religious displays and quite frankly, there is a campaign inside of those walls to minimize, even ridicule faith. And now we see the results of that onslaught over the years with our young people walking a lonely path through life...without hope, without direction, without morals.
Our Constitution demands freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.
Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.
If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."
Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."
Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:
•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
•65% rarely or never attend worship services.
•67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.
Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.
"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church," Rainer says.
This is all indicative about how religion and faith are now under constant attack in American society. From the new President of the USA stating that "America is not a Christian country anymore" to what is seemingly a monthly court battle by atheists to remove religious freedoms from the public square to that same President skipping out on National Prayer Day, the trend is apparent - the socialists' aim of demeaning and minimalizing religion in America is working and the effects of it on the young people is the most glaring.
Let's face it - we have public schools in this country more concerned with gay and lesbian sensitivity training, birth control seminars and abortion rights dissemination than with any kind of tolerance of prayer. I'd propose this experiment: Have a 12 year old boy walk the halls of his school singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and compare that school's administration's reaction to him to another 12 year old boy who distributes flyers to a gay pride parade. Got the picture in your mind?
Let me remind everyone of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It is my contention that the Federal government HAS prohibited the free exercise of religion in this land and one of the most glaring examples of that has been in our public schools. How many public schools DARE hold a Christmas concert nowadays? How many public schools will honor other religious holidays such as Easter (or do they only allow a few bunnies pasted on a wall)?
I would guess that the majority of American actually thought that 1st Amendment read, "There shall be a separation of Church and State." Read it again and tell me where you see that demanded separation. One of the best marketing schemes of the Left has been to take some writings of Thomas Jefferson and transform those thoughts into Constitutional law. The fact of the matter is this - many of our forefathers came to America to ESCAPE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. They fled their homelands either because their nation had installed a national religion (the first protection provided by the amendment) or they were prohibited from openly practicing their faith (the second protection provided by the amendment).
It is my claim that our public schools are actively engaged in censorship of religious freedoms - there is no tolerance of religious displays and quite frankly, there is a campaign inside of those walls to minimize, even ridicule faith. And now we see the results of that onslaught over the years with our young people walking a lonely path through life...without hope, without direction, without morals.
Our Constitution demands freedom OF religion, not freedom FROM religion.
Survey: 72% of Millennials 'more spiritual than religious'
Most young adults today don't pray, don't worship and don't read the Bible, a major survey by a Christian research firm shows.
If the trends continue, "the Millennial generation will see churches closing as quickly as GM dealerships," says Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. In the group's survey of 1,200 18- to 29-year-olds, 72% say they're "really more spiritual than religious."
Among the 65% who call themselves Christian, "many are either mushy Christians or Christians in name only," Rainer says. "Most are just indifferent. The more precisely you try to measure their Christianity, the fewer you find committed to the faith."
Key findings in the phone survey, conducted in August and released today:
•65% rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray by themselves either.
•65% rarely or never attend worship services.
•67% don't read the Bible or sacred texts.
Many are unsure Jesus is the only path to heaven: Half say yes, half no.
"We have dumbed down what it means to be part of the church so much that it means almost nothing, even to people who already say they are part of the church," Rainer says.
The findings, which document a steady drift away from church life, dovetail with a LifeWay survey of teenagers in 2007 who drop out of church and a study in February by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which compared the beliefs of Millennials with those of earlier generations of young people.
AGE 18 TO 29: 'Less religious,' not necessarily 'more secular'
DROPOUTS: Young adults aren't sticking with church
The new survey has a margin of error of +/-2.8 percentage points.
Even among those in the survey who "believe they will go to heaven because they have accepted Jesus Christ as savior":
•68% did not mention faith, religion or spirituality when asked what was "really important in life."
•50% do not attend church at least weekly.
•36% rarely or never read the Bible.
Neither are these young Christians evangelical in the original meaning of the term — eager to share the Gospel. Just 40% say this is their responsibility.
Even so, Rainer is encouraged by the roughly 15% who, he says, appear to be "deeply committed" Christians in study, prayer, worship and action.
Collin Hansen, 29, author of Young, Restless, Reformed, about a thriving minority of traditionalist Christians, agrees. "I'm not going to say these numbers aren't true and aren't grim, but they also drive people like me to build new, passionately Christian dynamic churches," says Hansen, who is studying for the ministry. He sees many in his generation veering to "moralistic therapeutic deism — 'God wants you to be happy and do good things.' ... I would not call that Christianity, however."
The 2007 LifeWay study found seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30, both evangelical and mainline, who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23. And 34% of those had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30.
The Pew survey found young people today were significantly more likely than those in earlier generations to say they didn't identify with any religious group. Neither are Millennials any more likely than earlier generations to turn toward a faith affiliation as they grow older.
