News
Study: Teens leave churches seen as judgmental, unfriendly
W
hy do young Christians leave the church?
Research by the Barna Group
finds that they view churches as judgmental, overprotective, exclu- sive and unfriendly toward doubt- ers. They also consider congrega- tions antagonistic to science and say their Christian experience has been shallow.
The findings, the result of a five-year study, are featured in You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethink- ing Faith, a book by Barna presi- dent David Kinnaman. The project included a study of 1,296 young adults who were current or former churchgoers. Researchers found that almost three out of five young Christians (59 percent) leave church life either permanently or for an extended period of time after age 15. One in four 18- to 29-year-olds said “Christians demonize every- thing outside of the church.” One in three said “church is boring.” Clashes between church expec-
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ished” tradition of religious freedom is under threat as the nation’s moral consensus has been eroded by “pow- erful new cultural currents.”
Muslim men convicted
A British court convicted three Mus- lim men of advocating the execution of gays. Jurors in Derby, England, in January found the trio guilty of try- ing to stir up hatred by doling out pamphlets calling for homosexuals to be put to death. They were con- victed under legislation that imposes penalties for distributing written material designed to incite tensions
10 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
because of sexual orientation. Titled “The Death Penalty?” their leaf- lets showed a mannequin hanging from a noose and carried quotations from Islamic texts saying that only through capital punishment could society be cleansed of homosexual- ity, “this immoral crime.” Sentencing was pending.
Methodists ‘spark’ change
To spark innovative ministries led by young adults, the United Meth- odist Church is following the model of tech startups. Spark 12 (www.
spark12.org), an incubator for social
tations and youths’ experience of sexuality have driven some away. One in six young Christians said they “have made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” And 40 percent of 18- to 29-year- old Roman Catholics said their church’s doctrine on sexuality and birth control is “out of date.” Kinnaman called the problem of young dropouts from church “par- ticularly urgent” since many con- gregations are used to “traditional” young adults who leave home, get educated, find a job and start a fam- ily before age 30. “Churches are not prepared to handle the new normal,” said Kin- naman. “However, the world for young adults is changing in signifi- cant ways, such as their remarkable access to the world and worldviews via technology, their alienation from various institutions, and their skepticism toward external sources of authority, including Christianity and the Bible.”
2011 Religion News Service
justice ministries, is about “connect- ing people with the resources to do something truly amazing,” said DJ del Rosario, UMC executive for young adult ministry discernment and enlistment. Teams of one to three entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 can apply to receive funding, coaching (theo- logical and technical) and resourcing to launch sustainable projects in only 18 weeks.
New Presbyterian church body Conservative Presbyterians launched a new denomination in January, say- ing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is too consumed by internal conflicts and bureaucracy to nurture healthy congregations. More than 2,000 peo- ple attended the Evangelical Cove- nant Order of Presybterians’ meeting in Orlando, Fla. Its creation follows the PC(USA)’s churchwide vote last year to lift its ban on gay clergy. Though still the largest U.S. Presby- terian denomination, the PC(USA) lost more than 500,000 members between 1998 and 2009, according to church statistics, and now has about 2 million members.
Preachy turnoff Only one in six Americans (16 per- cent) said they are more likely to vote for candidates who regularly share their religious beliefs, accord- ing to the research arm of the South- ern Baptist Convention. The poll by LifeWay Research showed that 30 percent of respondents indicated they would be less likely to vote for a can- didate who prominently touts their religious beliefs and practices; 28 percent said it would have no impact, and 21 percent said it would depend on the candidate’s religion.
No to Shariah A recent study found that most U.S. and Canadian Muslims are satis- fied with the secular legal system
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