Study shows dramatic shift in how young Americans view denominations and spirituality

A study on American religious life has revealed that “those who identify themselves as ‘Christian,’ ‘Evangelical/Born Again,’ or ‘non-denominational Christian’ are on the rise” The study also showed an increase in the number of non-denominational Christians in association with megachurches. According to a Christian Post article, 200,000 people attended mega churches in 1990. That number jumped to 2.5 million in 2001, increased to 8 million in early 2009 and accounts for about 12 percent of the US population.   

The article also stated that people are leaving mainline Protestantism for evangelicalism. 38.6 percent refer to themselves as evangelical or born again. However, there has apparently been an increase in the number of “Americans claiming no religion.” That number went from 14.2 percent in 2001 to 15 percent in early 2009.

The Pew forum on Religion & Public Life study is questioning if Americans are heading in the same direction as Europeans, a people group who often consider themselves religious but they don’t belong to any specific religious institution.
Pew Form researcher Greg Smith stated that while Americans are indicating that religion is still important to them, that the mindset seems to be similar to the common European mindset of “believing without belonging.” That idea seems to be especially prevalent among younger Americans.

Senior fellow John Green of Pew Form on Religion & Public Life found that “One in four adults under the age of 30 years old claims no affiliation with a religious institution.” This is a larger number than in past generations. Green stated that “Given the large size of young people among the unaffiliated, this could have a profound effect upon the character of American religion.”

In its year-in-review article, www.barna.org concluded four themes:

Theme 1: “Increasingly, Americans are more interested in faith and spirituality than in Christianity”

Most Americans seem to want to associate with a particular faith (such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam or some other faith) because it “provides a discernible identity and facilitates the possibility of belonging to something meaningful. “ However, the ideals that make up their belief system seem to be propelled by “momentary needs and perceptions.”

George Barna stated that, “Ultimately, in a culture where people are busy, distracted, confused and trying to keep it all together, there is less loyalty to a faith brand than to self. The purpose of faith for most Americans is not so much to discover truth or to relate to a loving, praiseworthy deity as it is to become happy, successful, comfortable and secure. For a growing percentage of citizens, their sense of spirituality, more than Christianity, facilitates those outcomes.”

Another possible reason why people are less loyal to a ‘faith brand’ could be that 50 percent of all adults know of people who are “tired of having the same church experience.”

Theme 2: “Faith in the American context is now individual and customized. Americans are comfortable with an altered spiritual experience as long as they can participate in the shaping of that faith experience.”

This is more about being “comfortable with the idea of being spiritual as opposed to devoutly Christian.” The Bible is not seen as the ultimate authority on matters of spirituality, but rather, people seem to be more interested in mixing elements from various religions to create a kind of “hybrid faith” where there is no right or wrong or absolute moral truth. Basically, it’s a form of godliness that denies that there is any One True God.

Theme 3: “Biblical literacy is neither a current reality nor a goal in the U.S.”

Barna compares today’s Bible reading to today’s “sound-bite journalism.” He stated that, “When people read from the Bible they typically open it, read a brief passage without much regard for the context, and consider the primary thought or feeling that the passage provided. If they are comfortable with it, they accept it; otherwise, they deem it interesting but irrelevant to their life, and move on.”

The Bible speaks of Christ as one who taught the people with authority (Matthew chapter 7 verses 24-29). Jesus was able to paint vivid word pictures using things with which that culture was familiar (growing crops, raising sheep, parenting and so on) and show the people how the principles of scripture applied to their lives. They weren’t necessarily comfortable with what He had to say. And when they weren’t, the challenge was to change and line up with the absolute truth of scripture.  Of course, one has to know what the scriptures say before one can accept the challenge to embrace them and apply them to one’s life.

Theme 4: “Effective and periodic measurement of spirituality – conducted personally or through a church – is not common at this time and it is not likely to become common in the near future.”

Barna found that there are very few pastors who “give their congregants a specific, written statement of how they define spiritual maturity, how it might be measured, the strategy for facilitating such maturity, or what scriptural passages are most helpful in describing and fostering maturity.” But those who did tended to gauge spiritual maturity by people’s participation in programs rather than “people’s spiritual understanding (of Biblical text) or any type of transformational fruit in their lives.” As a result, most adult church attendees are unclear about what defines, “a healthy, spiritually mature follower of Christ and they were no more likely to have personally developed a clear notion of such a life.”

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