A recent Gallup poll showed another alarming drop in the number of Americans that profess a belief in God. From 1944 to the mid 1970’s the percentage was relatively stable between 94 and 98%. By 2011, the number had dropped to 92%. The May 2022 poll revealed only 81% of Americans believe in God. Another interesting yet not surprising outcome of the recent poll is that the percentage of believers increases with age. Believers number 68% of those aged 18 to 29, 81% of those between 30 and 49, and 87% above 49.
That’s a drop of twenty percent of believers from the previous generation. 78% of the unbelieving Americans said they were raised “in the church.” Strange that the number of believers in my generation did not drop at all from that of my folks. In fact it may have increased slightly. Why are so many young people in this century abandoning traditional Christianity? Interestingly, half of these non-believers who said they were raised in a Christian home said a “lack of belief” led them away from religion. What was the word that many of the respondents used to explain their lack of belief? Science!
As if it was yesterday, I can clearly remember in 1970 reading in my 10th grade Biology textbook that evolution was a fact, not a theory. How does a 21st Century 15 year old not well-grounded in his or her faith push back against this? Much has been written that suggests that as early as elementary school, young people have unanswered doubts and questions about the Bible. Many of these questions are related to Genesis and scientific issues such as evolution, the age of the universe, dinosaurs, and Noah’s Ark. Perhaps our young people are not getting solid answers from church leaders and parents but instead are getting these questions confidently answered in secular school. If they cannot believe the very first book of God’s Word, how can they be expected to trust anything else in it? If the first eleven chapters of Genesis are full of myths like the Garden and the Flood, then why believe in equally unnatural events like the virgin birth, walking on water, and the resurrection?
A very disappointing reason for loss of faith is that apparently young people are not getting Bible-based answers to the societal questions of the day. Research from a Barna Group report in 2016 revealed that “a vast majority of theologically conservative pastors believe the Bible speaks to societal issues, but fewer than 10 percent of these pastors are teaching people what the Bible says on these topics.” Why is that so? The report offered a handful of reasons why pastors shy away from addressing current issues like evolution, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, abortion, adultery, and pornography. Among those were 1) fear of pushback from those in the pews, and 2) having more of a fear of man rather than a fear of God. I fear their fear is misplaced. Maybe the wrong men are filling the pulpits! Maybe they need to recall the Hebrew writer’s warning that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Another disturbing result of a Pew Research Center poll is the pervasiveness of the belief of evolution within the Christian population. A 2014 poll revealed an astounding 2 out of 3 Christians in America believe in evolution. Sadly, instead of addressing this lie with God’s Word, many have compromised God’s Word with these secular ideas of naturalism. By saying God’s Word is not clear, and that perhaps He could have used the big bang or billions of years of evolution, these church leaders are undermining God’s Word. Jesus believed in Adam. (Matthew 19:4). Jesus believed in the Bible account of the Flood (Matthew 24:38). If these are mythical, then that makes Jesus either a liar or mistaken. It is not difficult to understand why young people are falling away!
Perhaps the problem is really our own. After all, it was not to church leaders that Solomon said, “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6). Paul wrote that fathers should “bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Sadly, too many of us have delegated our own responsibility to the church.
It’s not too late to bring these back into the fold! To do so, we need with conviction to show them that all of God’s Word can be trusted and that science, when properly interpreted through a biblical worldview, always confirms the Bible. Many will find it amazing that there are a great number of reputable scientists who believe the evidence of science supports the Biblical account of creation.
The entire Bible tells one great story, that of how a benevolent Creator provided a way for His people to be saved, from themselves. We need to rely upon all of it for our salvation. The alarming stats and trends noted above may sound discouraging, but as Christians we need to stand firm and remember what is most important. We must not compromise but preach and teach that all of God’s Word is truth. From Adam, Eve, and the serpent to the worldwide Flood of Noah, to the virgin birth of Jesus, His resurrection, and Second Coming. We pray that God will open up opportunities to share the gospel with those who haven’t heard it, and perhaps influence those who left their first love to turn back to the Lord. We invite all of Blanco County to join us every Sunday at 10am for Bible study and at 11 am for an hour of praise and worship. Or feel free to contact us with any questions or comments at 830-554-0701.
Buz Turk
Blanco Hills Church of Christ