Gen Z is Leading Church Attendance

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What worries me a bit is that they appear more to be looking for answers than for good questions.
 
BetteTheRed said:
What worries me a bit is that they appear more to be looking for answers than for good questions.
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It's hard to tell with mine. He's mostly Muslim because of his marriage. Not sure where he would land spiritually left to his own devices. That's certainly the period (18-30) was I was most curious about religion and that led me out of Christianity and into UU'ism so I think the idea that curiosity and inquiry are part of it makes sense.
 
Polarized gender/race politics, often provoke strong defensive reactions.

In secular Western contexts, narratives framing traditional (often white-coded) masculinity as "toxic" have contributed to a sense of marginalization fueling resentment among, especially, young white men. It is no wonder that they have turned to affirming identities in religion, online communities, or conservatism IMO.
 
Religion for Breakfast discussed this recently and this seems to be a bit of an illusion based on anecdotal, biased (e.g. studies done of Gen Z who were already religious), and misinterpreted data. Actual rigorous sociological data does not bear it out. View for more. Host is Dr. Andrew Henry and he is quite good at providing a scholarly, low bias (no one is 100% unbiased in this area) approach to religious studies and religious issues in society.


On a broader scale, he points out that the decline in religious affiliation has plateaued, but not reversed, and that this might be a pause in the decline, not the end of it. People who are raised without religion are highly unlikely to become religious so a recovery is becoming less and less likely over time. That's what the research shows. Again, watch the video.
 
My children, both in their early 20's, are interested in organized religion.
My daughter has been to some of the large fundamentalist-type churches with fellow university students.
She says the seats are like movie theatre seats, and the music is very energized, and there are flashing lights and theatre effects.
It made me reflect on how the United Church (where I brought her as a child) is very good with wordy services and hard pews, and not so good at movie theatre seats and flashing lights.
She has watched episodes of "The Chosen" with me. We both love the show! And I can see how "The Chosen" really does tell the story of Jesus
for a whole new generation.
My son is quite fascinated with Christian ritual. He and I have been reading a "visual novel" together on Steam. It's set in a convent during the Middle Ages, and the Catholic church rituals do feature a lot in this visual novel. My son tells me he would like to go "on vacation' in a monastery, and sleep in a cell and tend sheep in the fields.
 
There is this urge towards simplicity although the world appears very complex when you face it ... the learning curve bay be dead-Pan like a flat land when you come down ... Netherlands? Rich due to underwater activity? Go thick ...
 
God will draw to Himself whom He wants, and as in the past, it need not be to a church. For anyone seeking Him today the going got tougher with the interweb being the first choice of the young and there are a lot of weeds to work through online. The point is we seek God, not a church or religion.
 
I think part of the problem is we have people drawn to those who insist they know what God wants, which is really their own agenda.

Christianity has always had a gullibility problem. When you have a bunch of people conditioned to believe without evidence, that's a problem.

At the moment, it also has a fascist problem that is exploiting the gullibility problem.

God, it would appear, is either deliriously happy about the rise of right-wing authoritarians, or he's got a hell of a lot of work to do.
 
timothyu said:
The point is we seek God, not a church or religion.
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I like your last sentence. God first, how we engage and work with other believers comes from that. Leaves room for both the individual who doesn't fit with any church or religion and for those who want a communal religious experience of some form as well as for multiple varieties of religious community and experience.
 
chansen said:
God, it would appear, is either deliriously happy about the rise of right-wing authoritarians, or he's got a hell of a lot of work to do.
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If any (of any side) are of the world, they are not of God.
 
timothyu said:
If any (of any side) are of the world, they are not of God.
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Depends on your understanding of "God". With pantheist and most panentheist views of God, existing in the world IS being of God. We are naturally of God and any apartness comes from how we live in the world. We are always OF God and IN God, but not always in alignment with God. But, as I said, that's another view of God. If we are talking a transcendent, supernatural, monotheist God, then you're absolutely right. I happen to not be.
 
chansen said:
that reality has nothing to do with God
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His is not our reality is it. We have made a world built in our own image, not in God's. His Kingdom is a counter-culture to this world of our self-centred making. Too bad institutional religion abandoned the Kingdom millennia ago or the churches might be teaching the fact. Most today wish to make God over in our image rather than change themselves to fit His.
 
timothyu said:
His is not our reality is it. We have made a world built in our own image, not in God's. His Kingdom is a counter-culture to this world of our self-centred making. Too bad institutional religion abandoned the Kingdom millennia ago or the churches might be teaching the fact. Most today wish to make God over in our image rather than change themselves to fit His.
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For Christians, that image is supposed to be Jesus. We’ve historically done a poor job of making ourselves in that image. Throughout the ages there’s been progress, then it’s been thwarted by unscrupulous groups acting in his name and co-opting it, over and over. Interpretations of Jesus and his intentions vary widely. Little by little, those who were once ostracized by their more authoritarian - and prejudiced - predecessors, trickle in, and continue to blaze a trail for more outsiders to be included. That’s in the whole world itself, not the institution. The ones claiming to have the only legitimate theology, narrowly defining who’s worthy of saving, who is worthy of being, and who isn’t, complete with threats of eternal damnation for not obeying (and paying) are the most suspect in my opinion. It’s a kind of thuggery useful for corrupt governing powers to co-opt and/ or model themselves on, in their propaganda efforts to indoctrinate populations.
 
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Consider that Jesus said: Spread His gospel of the Kingdom and act in servitude to God and each other. Straightforward, but of little meat for religion builders. He told us what to do, so why not do it while God does the rest?
 
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timothyu said:
Consider that Jesus said: Spread His gospel of the Kingdom and act in servitude to God and each other. Straightforward, but of little meat for religion builders. He told us what to do, so why not do it while God does the rest?
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I’m not under the illusion that everybody knows what that means. Somebody somewhere will always say somebody else is doing it wrong, and nobody’s going to be “perfect” because we’re human. Try to help and not to do harm, even to those who’ve harmed you, would be my best interpretation. It’s not always simple because we’re caught up in a world socially constructed for inequality (injustice) that produces harm. I would say “mass-produces” it.
 
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Mortals are generally devoid of knowledge regarding matters from the other side of mortality ... thus immortal emerges!

The barrier is baffling and enigmatic ... quite mysterious and dark to say least! Feeling about this topic vary phenomenally ... thus eclectic senses that drive some overboard ...

Simply listen into a discussion between a physician and a meta physicist! They run parallel across a gap ... eh?

Conjunction of the two items of bother may leave you breathless ...
 
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