Over its 30-year history, Barna Group, a company focused on faith and culture research has conducted over one million surveys to gain insights about the spiritual lives of current and past generations. In recent years, this company organized a survey that led to the conclusion that Christianity is on a decline, while the rate of people identifying with atheism is increasing. This may be a common trend in America, but why is Christianity reducing and atheism rising?
From 2003 to 2018, Christianity has seen a significant decline of followers from 81% to 72%. However, other religious groups have seen little to no change over the years. In addition, the atheist, agnostic, and non-affiliated groups have in fact, doubled from 2003 to 2018 from only 11% to 21%. So, what is causing this huge shift?
The answer may have something to do with the differences between generations. Barna notes that “Gen Z teens are much less likely to assert religious identity.” This may be caused by a type of “spiritual numbness” from too much exposure to sexual content and beliefs about sexual freedom as children. Even avoiding the deep questions of life and failing to consider God as the ultimate creator can cause fewer people to become Christians. With how technology-centered our culture is today, the great number of differing beliefs and information on different viewpoints and worldviews is staggering. That is not to say that our wealth of information is a bad thing, but because we have so much access to opposing points of view, Christianity is not the center of our culture anymore. It has been shifted over from the limelight to left stage where not a lot of people give it attention.
Overall, there may be a generational difference in how the rate of Christianity is changing, but we as believers can make a difference to slow down the decline. Continuing to evangelize to others and pursue those without faith are good ways to increase Christianity in our culture today. Even a conversation over a cup of coffee will help! Hopefully, we can slow the decline of Christianity in our culture and bring it back to center-stage over time.
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