A survey finds that half of the Millenials do not care and do not believe that God exists.
The American Worldview Inventory 2021, a survey of the philosophy of life on American adults from Arizona Christian University, assessed the worldviews of four generations: millennials (born 1984-2002), Gen X (1965-1983), baby boomers (1946-1964) and builders (1927-1945).
And the survey has found that 43% of millennials in the United States “don’t know, care or believe that God exists”.
Researchers found that millennials have gone beyond in cutting connections with traditional Christian views and normal biblical teachings.
Millennials (people born between 1984 and 2002) didn’t believe in God or didn’t know and/or care if God exists, while in contrast, 57% of this age bracket considered themselves as Christians.
Based on these statistics, it is said that fewer Millennials are considerably anticipated to embrace key traditional biblical teachings, including the nature of God, “original sin”, salvation, creation, life after death, human purpose, and biblical morality.
The AWVI has concluded that the younger generation’s beliefs may “threaten to reshape the nation’s religious parameters beyond recognition”.
Meanwhile, 70% of Generation X (born between 1965-1983) considered themselves as Christian, alongside 79% of Baby Boomers. The highest percentage of Christians were in the Builder Generations (between 1927-1945), with 83% considering themselves as Christian.
Altogether, 31%, 28%, and 27% didn’t “know, care, or believe that God exists”, Breitbart reports.
The study also asked people about some of their views on life.
For example, nearly half of all boomers believe that when they die, they will go to Heaven only because they confessed their sins and accepted Jesus as their Savior, compared to only 26% of Gen X and 16% of millennials.
It also asked the question of whether you should “treat others as you want them to treat you”. 48% of Millennials agreed that people should do this, while 53% of Gen Xers and 81% of Boomers said that people should do this too.
Millennials agree with matters like defining success in life as happiness, personal freedom, or productivity without oppression; considering an abortion performed to reduce personal economic or emotional discomfort to be morally acceptable; considering premarital sex with someone expected to be their future spouse to be morally acceptable, and believing in reincarnation.
The least belief for Millennials was the concept of a “universal purpose for all people is to know, love, and serve God with all heart, mind, strength and soul”, which saw only 19% of this generation agree.
George Barna, a sociologist and the CRC director of research, said that: “Gen X and the Millennials have solidified dramatic changes in the nation’s central beliefs and lifestyles.”
“The result is a culture in which core institutions, including churches, and basic ways of life are continually being radically redefined,” Barna explained.
He believes this change began around 60 years ago with gradual changes among Boomers but portrayed Millennials as having “aggressively cut ties with core biblical views and lifestyle values”.
Jacob Bland, the new president and CEO of Youth for Christ, said:
“Teens today are facing crises like never before, but it’s often in the darkness that light shines the brightest, to enter into a disciple-making relationship where you’re introducing a kid to an unconditional love that maybe they’ve never even considered, showing them the goodness and love modeled in Jesus.”
“There’s a lot of hope in that,” Bland said. “Jesus has a way of being new and fresh for the circumstances of today, and He is certainly doing that.”