Millennials Aren't Abandoning Religion — Religious Institutions Are Abandoning Us

[cbayer]

http://www.policymic.com/articles/85273/millennials-aren-t-abandoning-religion-religious-institutions-are-abandoning-us

By Grace Patterson 20 hours ago

With a recent Pew study finding (again) that 29% of millennials are religiously unaffiliated, we've been reading some familiar rhetoric about what it means to be religious in this country.

The rise of the unaffiliated is fuel for old fires: religious leaders decrying the moral decay of our great nation and militant atheists gleefully forecasting the eventual extinction of religious belief. The study's findings, however, demonstrate something very different about our generation than the headlines suggest.

Pew says Millennials less likely to be affiliated with any religion or say they believe in God http://t.co/Dy45a2kDWG [We have work to do]

— OrangePC_VA (@OPC_VA) March 10, 2014

According to new Pew study, millennials are unattached to everything, including religion http://t.co/CfeETrBBUN via @DeaconsBench

— Deacon Greg Kandra (@DeaconsBench) March 10, 2014

When similar data was released in October 2012, it seemed like everyone was talking about the "nones," but this time around, coverage is emphasizing what many millennials already know: Declining religiosity has much less to do with lack of religious belief and much more to do with lack of belief in religious institutions.

We grew up in the shadow of the "religious right" resurgence of the '70s and '80s, a call to arms for the Christian majority in the U.S. that seared into the public consciousness the notion that to be a religious person in this country was to be socially conservative.

more at link

[AtheistCrusader]

1. 29%? *FIST PUMP*

It's dropped 4% since I last looked!

[bravenak]

2. I am pleased.

Lets bump it up to 100 percent.

[cbayer]

5. That will never happen, so I think it's a good idea to support those who are

liberal/progressive and religious.

100% of anything often leads to no good and could make for a very boring world.

[trotsky]

6. Would it be bad if 100% of the world opposed slavery?

Would that be boring?

[bravenak]

7. Naw. It wont get to 100. Probably more like 85 percent when the previous generation dies off.

I just want religious people to stop putting their bullshit into laws that affect me and others who arent of their religion. I am from this generation and ill tell you right now that there are way more athiest than claim atheism. Because of religion intruding into our lives and the lives of our loved ones. And the supposedly good christians who are liberal, who are supposed to stop this madness, have let it get to the point where religions fund political movements to stop gay people from getting married among other things, like fighting birth control and abortion. Not cool. Its time you all took your fellow religion minded people in hand and stop letting them ruin lives with their holy rolling. My generation is not going to see an upsurge in religion because of these factors, science, and the incompatability of science and religion. Oh, and my generation has mostly decided to ho ahead and read the bible just for shits and giggles. We do not see the good stuff you all see. At all. Mostly bad rules, murder, genocide, and i'll never forget the guy who sent his daughter out to be raped instead of the male visitor and then cut her body up when they had raped her to death and sent it to the various tribes. And the bible promotes slavery enabling the white establishment to keep my ancestors docile in their slavery by suplanting their religious culture with christian culture which told them to obey their masters and they would recieve their rewards in heaven. Not cool.

Im looking for less religious candidates, not liberal christian candidates. If i find one in my state i will be excited.
I would rather have a boring world than a world full of christians trying to stop me from getting birth control and going over to the middle east and fighting the new crusades. Or stopping gay people from doing what we can do just because of a book that they read that they believe in. If christians can stop writing stupid laws aimed toward oppressing women and gays people and what not, cool. Until then, i will pick the least religious candidates i can. To protect myself. From their religion.

[cbayer]

8. I think the numbers will actually change very little over time,

but I am with you in wanting to see an elimination of the intrusion of religion into our government.

The numbers are likely to change as more people feel comfortable identify as non-believers, I agree. But there are also well established trends that show that young people tend to be less religious and the numbers grow as the same group grows older.

I'm not sure who "you all" is, but I agree that liberal/progressive religious people need to stand up more aggressively against the religious right. I also think they need the support of non-believers in doing this, something I would like to see more of.

I am looking for liberal candidates and their religion matters very little to me. I don't think it should make any difference and will support them. I would like to see more religious diversity in our elected officials, particularly for groups that have been harmed by the lack of religious tolerance - women, GLBT people, muslims, atheists.

Picking someone just because they are not religious is your right, but you might overlook some excellent liberal/progressive candidates who are religious. And I would hope you would not vote for a conservative just because they identify as an atheist.

That would clearly not be in your best interest.

[bravenak]

9. I would never vote for a conservative. Period.

I also would never vote for a super liberal who used their religion as a reason we should vote for them. I did not say i would pick someone just because they were atheists, just that i am looking for less religious candidates. After what the religious did in california, i find it hard to trust them. Even the so called liberal religious. A lot of them went to the ballot box and in a decidedly non liberal way voted to take rights away from gay people just cause. Religion. In a liberal state. Not cool.

People need to stop trying to spread their anti gay anti women bullcrap through the ballot box. They make religion sound evil and bigoted. And there is absoulutely nothing coming through the grapevine to counter this. And they pretend that they are the ones who are being oppressed by atheists, while they go around oppressing gay people and women and spreading evil laws to africa. And where are the religious liberals?? I dont hear or see them doing anything to stop this crap. Nothing. Busy being christian i guess.

[cbayer]

11. I can't think of a super liberal that would use their religion as a reason

you should vote for them. They might exist, but I've not seen one.

What do you see that the liberal religious did in california? Do you have any evidence at all that they voted against the rights of GLBT persons in the state? In fact, some religious groups worked hard on the Stop8 campaign.

There are things coming through the grapevine that directly contradict your view on this, you just don't see it. Part of that is not your fault, as the press tends to ignore them. There is an article posted here just today about religious groups backing universal access to birth control. Did you happen to see it? There are religious groups, even within the catholic church, fighting for GLBT civil rights.

You might want to take a look a Dan Savage's, "Not all like that" campaign. It was designed with people just like you in mind.

http://notalllikethat.org

I don't think liberal/progressive people of faith say they are being oppressed by atheists, but I do think the religious right does.

It's really important to make the distinction and not throw your friends out with that stinky bathwater.

[bravenak]

12. In California (religious)Black people voted to stop gay marriage because of religion.

They are liberals for the most part. Thats what i'm talking about. They might have felt stupid afterwards, since they got played by the mormons, but it happened. And it was harmful. No excuses.

Please lets not speak of the catholic church who doesn't let women into the clergy please. Disgusting sexist policy. Horrible. No excuses. Its sexism in a pure form. There may be groups fighting against it but as a whole the entity of the church is against me participating in the clergy. I would never promote a group that would exclude me from upward mobility because i don't have something hanging from between my legs.

Not enough work is being done by the religious to stop the excess of the churches and limit their power in this nation. I have no need to separate out the liberals from the conservatives in that partucular context since these beliefs that they have are harmful to me and are in their holy book. They believe similar things. Like hell for nonbelievers for the most part. Heaven for them for the most part. And they want to put their religious stuff in and around public places and force people like me to view their commandments when I'm going to the courthouse, or throw their cross ( completely dis including me) up anywhere they want to because they can. Even in public places. Its not enough for the religious to have their churches and temples, they must encroach on public places and force their religious relics upon the rest of us. But if atheists ask for a plaque its war. And there are liberals too wanting to put up crosses everydamn where (one place) like its the thing to do. And get angry if we ask them to keep their crosses off the public federally ( or state, city, whatever) owned land. And dont let me get started on the young earthers (not liberals) who got their dumb ideas from church and are spreading ignorance around america at a rapid pace. Our kids will be dumber than us if we don't stop it.

Some religious groups did work against prop 8, but more worked for prop 8. Thats the problem. Not enough religious care about the problems their religion causes to other people. They just go with the flow too much.

They will see church attendance continue to decline. And I'm glad because we need more openminded people who haven't been damaged by stupid concepts like original sin, hell, and the young earth nonsense.

[cbayer]

13. Ah, that is very true. The AA churches strongly advocated for prop8 and they were

a big reason for it's passage. You are right. It was harmful and there is no excuse.

I did not speak of the catholic church, per se. I spoke of groups within the church who are fighting to change some of the church's positions. They need and deserve support, imo. They have reasons for staying with the church and I, for one, am glad they are taking a positive position from within.

Not at religious people believe the things you say. You are extrapolating the beliefs and positions of some to all, and that's just inaccurate. If you can't see the differences or make the distinction, then you will be stuck with the kind of dogmatic and rigid view that is such a big part of the problem.

While I also would like to see more action from the liberal/progressive groups, I think it's vital that we support those that are doing the right thing whenever we can. I think it is divisive and destruct to throw them in the same bucket as the religious right.

Did you take a look at the link?

Church attendance may decline to some degree, but I predict that there will be growth in new kinds of churches. Again, many religious people don't believe in original sin, hell and young earth nonsense. Many of them are members of this site.

It might be of some interest to you to get to know them….. or not.

[bravenak]

14. I have never met a religious (christian)person who did not believe in original sin. (Adam and eve..)

Or that jesus didn't die on the cross for our*sins. I live in a red state. I don't believe in sin.

It may be divisive to put them in the same bucket but i did not do it. The bucket is religion. They jumped in. Religion to me is divisive. It puts people into groups. I will support them when they stop equivocating, making excuses, and stop supporting churches who do harm to people. I will and do only support those who advocate for my (everyones) freedom from their religion. The second they start putting their relics up in public places, i am done. Or repressing women within or without their religion. Cool on that. Very few churches and groups meet my standards.

There will be no resurgence in religion in my reality based generation. And we will not be trotting our kids off to church to hear strange messages from old men (sometimes women) who want them to believe things with no evidence. Won't happen. We are the show me generation. We were born and bred on the lies of the religious right. And we did not like it one bit. No point in turning to a softer form of the same thing. Might as well stay home and skype.

[cbayer]

15. Though not religious, I was raised in a denomination that never, ever mentioned original sin.

The first I heard of it was from my catholic friends who explained to me why babies were baptized at birth. In my denomination, no one was baptized until their adolescence and we were taught that all people were fundamentally good and babies born without any faults whatsoever.

So, it may just be that your experience has been limited.

Sin is a concept that has religious roots, but if one takes a more secular approach, it could just be a word which stands for the bad things that we, being human, do every day. Well, at least I do bad things every day.

The bucket is not religion. The bucket is oppressive, misogynistic, homophobic bigotry draped in religion. Everything puts people in groups. Being a member of this site puts you in a group. Having an AA avatar puts you in a group. Taking a stand against religion most definitely put you in a group.

But I would hope that people view you and eventually judge you based on your personal attributes and not by the groups you belong to. And I would hope that you do the same.

You could be right about your generation, but I have four kids in that group, and I can assure you that their is nothing even close to conformity when it comes to them and their views on religion or the paths they are taking. What they all do agree on, thank goodness, is that everyone should be allowed to follow their own path and if that involves believing or not believing, that's just fine.

I do agree that your generation will run form the religious right and I am very, very thankful to see that happening.

[LostOne4Ever]

3. Is anyone really surprised?

The mainstream religious institutions are shouting homophobic and anti-woman propaganda over and over and they expect us to not to come to associate them with bigotry?

All through out my childhood, I was told again and again how God was all good and all benevolent. How love was the ultimate good, and how god was love. How god love us all equally whether male or female.

Then the same people turn around and tell us that god will condemn you to eternal hellfire if you love the wrong person. How god hates homosexuality and has set up strict gender roles that actively make women inferior to men. And we are not supposed see the contradiction? Is god love or is he a bigot who will damn someone to hell for love.

This is not to say that all millennials are atheists like me (and im still not sure if im a generation X'er or millennial being born in '82*), but rather how can they not see that they are the ones driving us away from ORGANIZED religion?

Similarly, I am not saying all organized religion is this way. However, it is those who promote this hypocrisy that are the loudest BY FAR. Whether this is due to the media, or simple numbers, or that some other factor I don't know. But I do know what I have and still do perceive when Im not on DU, and that is a constant and unwavering message of bigotry.

*I am becoming more and more sure I am classified as a millennial, but I tend to identify more with Generation X as that was what I was told I was a part of growing up...

[cbayer]

4. No one should be surprised at all.

Whether these churches will recognize what is happening and make a commitment to change is the question.

Fortunately there are churches that are already there and I predict that they will thrive.

I think the media has a lot to do with who you hear the loudest and the most. There is an article posted here today about a powerful interfaith coalition taking a progressive/liberal stand. I doubt it will get much press at all, though I would guess that they represent more people that the fundamentalist loudmouths do.

I'm a boomer and am glad not to have to decide which of those other labels might apply to me, lol.

[bravenak]

10. You are a millenial.

18-33 is the cutoff. We barely made it. I'm 33 since last week. We are less bratty than the generation x. Less religious too. Much less.