According to data compiled from interviews of 35,000 adults, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has documented that nearly half of Americans (44%) have left the faith tradition of their upbringing. Apparently, training up a child in the way he should go so that when he is older he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6) isn’t exactly working the way some of us have thought it would. The research indicates there is a large exodus underway out of historical, traditional Christianity, as represented by Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, into “independent” contemporary style churches, or, in increasing numbers, no organized religious affiliation at all. Interestingly, similar trends are evident in other religions, too. Americans en masse are departing from it.
What is one to make of this? One’s answer will depend in large part upon how he or she views the world.
On one end of the spectrum, some Christians point to this data as proof certain that Christ’s mission to save the world beyond their special group has been a colossal failure. They have or will soon declare themselves to be a chosen remnant that will be spared the damnation that is about to fall upon everyone else. Join them or get swept away in the tide of apostasy that will precede Satan’s takeover is their message.
Others see the trend away from traditional religion as a fresh breeze of God’s spirit blowing across the land to liberate and renew people of faith. For these folks it is a time of transition from old forms and power structures that long ago lost their vitality and relevance. Many are speaking of experiencing a spiritual awakening once they shed old religious habits of thought and practice.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who just don’t give a rip. All this religion talk has no connection to how they think and live.
I think the answer is somewhere in the middle.
