Study: Young Americans less religious than their parents. (hell, churches, atheist)

[Haaziq]

A study released Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public life appears to bear that out. On the one hand, it finds that young Americans are significantly less religious than their parents and grandparents were when they were young. But the report also suggests that many of the beliefs and faith-based practices of 18- to 29-year-olds mirror those of their elders.
One in four American millennials -- which it defined as those who were born after 1980 and came of age around the millennium -- are not affiliated with any faith tradition, Pew found. They characterize their religion as "atheist," "agnostic" or "nothing in particular."

Study: Young Americans less religious than their parents - CNN.com

[Visvaldis]

Time for the older generations to panic and home school the kids so they get a good dose of what Hell is all about.

[Lamplight]

For instance, 45 percent of young Americans report praying daily...

I find that rather hard to believe, but I guess it would be a hard thing to prove or disprove.

[rifleman]

Notice that they "reported" praying. Many people essentially lie on polls because they are either deluding themselves or they don't want the pollster to know the truth.

They occasionally do these sort of polls right outside our local big grocery store. They assure you of the anonymity, but there you are, standing in front of them, looking them in the eye when you answer. The polsters are always from some other town or city, assuring you of the completely unbiased nature of their poll, but still...

"Are you still beating your wife, or do you limit it only to your children now?"

"Do you pray every day, like a good Christian?"

"Do you agree that those gays shouldn't be in the military?"

Etc., etc. Built-in biases. (PS: of course I exaggerated here, but you get the idea... It all depends on what answer the polsters want to achieve, frankly.).

It's been proven over and over that most folks answer questions about social behavior with what they feel is the politically correct answer. There was a faouosone up in Vancouver, Canada where they were asked if they ever shopped at a particularly low-end and rather "grotty" downtown department store.

They were asked in they ever shopped at The Army & Navy store. "Nope!". "Never!" "I wouldn't think of it!"

All of these people were recorded on video as they walked out of The Army & Navy department store. So. Let's go to Hometown, USA and ask some folks if they regularly attend their local church, and if they pray. shall we?

What has been done are some more careful and unbiased studies that have shown that the younger folks from less vigorously devoted Christian families are not bothering to attend church so much these days. Of course the more enthusiastic still do, but that number is dwindling. I briefly reported on this poll on a thread yesterday; it was covered in detail on NPR.

It of course caused some panic in the various churches, though they have already seen the hands-on results with reduced congregational attendance, mostly in young people. The old-timers still come, but they are dying off.

[Bud235]

That would make sense -- younger people are less close-minded.

[NCN]

I have been a little shocked at the disrespectful way many treat Christians in our society today. People that did not go to church used to at least have respect for those that do. Why would anyone consider someone who goes to church as close-minded. Christians are the enlightened people. Unfortunately some will not realize this until they die. I find it sad.

[Bud235]

Originally Posted by NCN

I have been a little shocked at the disrespectful way many treat Christians in our society today. People that did not go to church used to at least have respect for those that do. Why would anyone consider someone who goes to church as close-minded. Christians are the enlightened people. Unfortunately some will not realize this until they die. I find it sad.

I don't expect anyone to "respect" what I believe -- I'd lay out facts and talk about what's right and what's wrong.

A lot of times, expecting too much respect can be a problem.

[jbird82]

Originally Posted by NCN

I have been a little shocked at the disrespectful way many treat Christians in our society today. People that did not go to church used to at least have respect for those that do. Why would anyone consider someone who goes to church as close-minded. Christians are the enlightened people. Unfortunately some will not realize this until they die. I find it sad.

I don't think people, specifically the non-religious would consider Christians closes-minded if it weren't for a very vocal percentage of the population that wants to teach science as if we were in the dark ages in our school systems.

Kids have access to more information at a younger age today than their parents ever did. Thus, they become more knowledgeable and perhaps skeptical than their parents. It's not a trend I see reversing, so religion will need to adapt to survive.

It's no secret as to what happened to Catholicism in the Northeast over the past 15-20 years. Most of the churches where I grew up have had to consolidate over the past 10 years...many beautiful churches have been abandoned and many are being torn down.

[Rafius]

Originally Posted by NCN

I have been a little shocked at the disrespectful way many treat Christians in our society today. People that did not go to church used to at least have respect for those that do. Why would anyone consider someone who goes to church as close-minded. Christians are the enlightened people. Unfortunately some will not realize this until they die. I find it sad.

Presumably you believe that YOUR god is the only one, that YOUR religious beliefs are 'Truth' and the religious beliefs of others are false....yes?

[Lamplight]

Originally Posted by NCN

Christians are the enlightened people.

Statements like this are the very reason some find it difficult to respect many Christians.