This Sunday, I was listening to my pastor’s sermon and thought to myself, why is it that we are dealing daily with attacks on Christianity, and I decided to do some research to find out why this is happening. According to a PEW survey, Church attendance has been down substantially over the last 30 years but you would think that with what is happening in the world today more Christians would be drawn back to the church. Looking back to the 1990’s we find that 90% of Americans identified as Christians whereas today only 2/3’s call themselves Christians as a large number of adults have become religiously unaffiliated. So, we find a substantial number of young adults who were raised in a Christian family have not retained that identity.
It is the Gen X and the Boomers who have been the stalwarts when it comes to religious belief and are currently the biggest supporters of their churches. Eighty percent of Gen X say that they have always believed which is 14% higher than Millennials and Gen Z. Surprisingly it is the Gen X and Millennials where we have seen the largest drop off in religious affiliation. Looking at Millennials, as they became adults, 22% identified as not having a religious affiliation but as they aged in 2018, we found 33% are identifying as not having a religious affiliation. The percentage of Gen Xers who never attend church still appears to be growing and some say this may be the last generation to be raised with traditional American religious values.
Generally speaking, regular participation in a religious community tends to correlate to better health, longer life, being more generous financially, and creating stable families. With the drop in religious affiliation, it is not surprising that we see more alcohol and drug abuse with higher incidences of loneliness, mental illness, and depression. There are those who draw the correlation that nearly 13% of Americans are taking some kind of anti-depressant drug which may be associated with the drop in religious affiliation. These numbers appear to accelerate with age from 7.9% among adults aged 18-39 to 19.0% for those aged 60 and over. This certainly begs the question, is the loss of religious values a prelude to the epidemic of antidepressants that we are currently experiencing today?
I believe we must also ask ourselves how much of an influence the Roe v Wade decision in 1973 had in causing a drop off in religious values and affiliation. Most religions have very strong beliefs about having an abortion except for medical, incest, or rape issues and believe it is a sin and should not be tolerated. Add to that the excessive proliferation of pornography since the advent of the internet causing those who engage in this pastime less likely to be regular church attendees.
A PEW survey conducted in the summer of 2023 showed a 12% rise since 2007 in those who are not religiously affiliated. “They’re also still leaning young and democratic, with 69% under the age of 50 and 62% of those not religiously affiliated identifying as Democrats or leaning toward the Democratic Party.” Most of those who claim they are unaffiliated with any particular religion do however have a belief in some higher power just not the God taught in the Bible.
I have said in many previous articles that the drop in religious values started when the U.S. Supreme Court declared prayer in public schools unconstitutional on June 25, 1962. This is one of the reasons that I continue to argue that government-sponsored public education must be abolished. I believe it has been the swinging of the education pendulum far to the left that brought about an indoctrination process that has been and is still causing much of the change in religious values today. Our children are no longer being educated but indoctrinated by the same government entities that have been the cause of the decline in religious values in our country. I often talk to friends who are part of the Gen X and Millennial generations who believe an abortion if done early enough is ok. These same people still attend church services regularly and say they believe in God. I find this dichotomy to be a serious problem in today’s culture. To me, this is like saying suicide is ok as long as you have someone else perform the execution.
As I have moved around the country during my career it’s become clear to me that this indoctrination of our children in our public schools was everywhere and over time has eroded our values and in turn the nuclear family. I firmly believe that religion has been the foundation that America’s values were built on but the waves of socialism pounding on that foundation for 248 years have eroded many of those values. In the past 60 years, too many parents have ignored who decides what their children will be taught and who will be teaching them.
Today we hear about “Critical Race Theory”. the new “Woke” philosophy and “Transgenderism” being taught to our children without our knowledge or consent and we wonder why there is so much division in our country. It is the laissez-faire attitude of parents who have permitted this to take place. Schools have become nothing more than daycare centers for parents who never attend school board meetings or voice their concerns about what is being taught to their children. America is the most powerful country on this earth and there are many who would like to conquer us but would not attempt it knowing they would lose. Unfortunately, they found our one weakness. We permitted our government to control and weaponize our education system and our children have become their soldiers that carry their untenable message for change that would destroy this great nation.
I have visited many schools during my life and have seen the deterioration of public education and believe it is at the heart of many of our current problems. But it is not just our public schools that have been indoctrinating our children, it is also our colleges and universities that continue this indoctrination. The crazy thing is we pay exorbitant tuition for our children to learn how to be anarchists and weapons for the progressive left that would destroy our Republic.
In the past two years, we have seen a great awakening of parents as they protest Wokeness and Critical Race Theory curriculums at school board meetings. Many ask the question is it too late for change? I would like to believe that it is never too late and if we turn back to our religious heritage God will give us the strength to fix these problems and put us back on the right track although it will not be an easy road to travel.
We all need to remember the infamous words of President Ronald Reagan: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
As for Religion: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not to strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
“When we Christians behave badly, or fail to behave well, we are making Christianity unbelievable to the outside world.”
C.S. Lewis.
