A recent survey and study by the acclaimed Pew Forum, just released on October 9th, shows many telling truths about where this country is, versus where it was just a few decades ago. The results are not promising for Christians- and many others- throughout the nation.
Amongst the data is the fact that 20% of all adults identify themselves as being atheist, agnostic, or having no religious affiliation. That number is the highest it has ever been, and has increased significantly over the past 10 years. Delving deeper in to the survey reveals that the majority of this specific group are younger people- those under thirty years old. That category leads us to believe that, if attitudes remain, our future will not be better.
Also of note is the fairly drastic decline in those who claim they are Protestants; those have gone down 18% over the past 40 years (from 62% to 51% of the U.S. population). Roman Catholics have remained steady, but this is misleading. American-born Catholics have declined in recent decades, but this has been made up by the large influx of immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America. All of these areas are almost exclusively Catholic.
Most readers do not need this recent professional survey to state the obvious: the United States is becoming less Christian, and more atheist, humanist, and other world religions (such as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, etc). What does this mean? Is this a good thing for our society? What about our future?
If more people do not identify with religion, and Christianity specifically, where do they derive their moral compass from? What, or who, guides them? For many, pop culture guides them. For others, it is the national government. In either case, that is not a positive. Also, where at one point one’s parents were their main source of wisdom- today many families and homes are broken. Uninvolved fathers and other tragic circumstances have become the norm for many families over the past few decades.
That said, this is an era where we need God the most. The recent trends hurt us in many ways, and the timing could not be worse. Let us hope for a 21st Century version of a Great Awakening- soon.
About the Author:
I am from the NH and Massachusetts area, and have been involved in my local congregation for many years. In addition, I enjoy writing professionally- about Christian topics and also about real estate and associated secular topics. I've recently co-written a church history "intro" book titled "Top Ten Most Influential Christians- since the Apostles".
KLambert – who has written 47 posts on Taber's Truths Christian Living Magazine.
“If more people do not identify with religion, and Christianity specifically, where do they derive their moral compass from? What, or who, guides them? For many, pop culture guides them. For others, it is the national government.”
Why do you think these are the only choices? Each of the options you listed are based on faith not fact. Religion offers commandments to be accepted blindly by the threat of punishment from supernatural being. Such a being is beyond evidence or logical demonstration. To follow pop culture isn’t a validation of morality, it is the evasion of effort. Pop culture does not dictate or alter what is true. The idea that government dictates morality confuses law with morality. Morality precedes law, so how is the government to figure out what is moral? Is there no possible rational explanation for morality? Is morality just a matter of opinion? Religions such as Christianity start with the premise that their God exists, that it is self-evident, then they proceed to offer contradictory interpretations of biblical texts in the attempt to motivate people to behave in certain ways. As pople realize that morality is necessary for human survival and the attainment of happiness, they will seek out a rational code to live by. So to answer your question. Where does morality come from, if not from God or society? A rational morality comes from the fact that humans are living, thinking, beings. To achieve life and happiness, humans need logical (universal) principles to guide their choices and actions. If humans couldn’t reason, then the issue of morality would not come up, any more than it comes up for a dog or a fish.