Whenever a friend finds out I attend church pretty regularly, I tend to get one of two looks. It’s either a, “I didn’t think anyone our age went to church every Sunday” look, or a, “that’s something I feel like I should be doing, I should get on that” sort of look.
I have to admit, I don’t get the looks very often because I’m not a very good Christian in the evangelical sense of the word. My faith is not something I talk about with others unless it’s brought up, and even if it is I don’t make judgments about others involvement, or lack thereof and don't say much about mine. It’s my opinion that religion is a very personal choice that should come from ones own feelings and convictions, not something rooted in pressure, guilt or any other motivation other than personal desire.
Yes, the irony of a blog about religion after those first three paragraphs is not lost on me. However, I write about it only to make a point. If only I could stop digressing, I’d get to that point.
It's important to make the distinction between religion and faith before I go any further. I used the term religion in the title only to quote REM, but religion to me refers to affiliation with a particular church, while faith can be had without a church.
I don’t have very many friends who practice religion in a traditional sense, or are religiously affiliated. However, most of them have faith, and I would be willing to guess at least 75% will return to regular church attendance once the kid explosion hits my circle of friends. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot like when all of my friends were suddenly getting married, only with offspring this time.
An ABC News article from May of last year found that both Generation X and Y are claiming no religious affiliations a unprecedented levels. The number of “younger Americans” that do not claim an affiliation is between 30 and 40 percent, compared to between five and 10 percent for all Americans.
It’s not hard to confirm that, just go to any local church on any given Sunday. You’ll see pews filled with scores of quadra, quinqua, sexta, septua and octogenarians. What you wont see is an abundance of youth. Sure, you’ll see some, but they are always way outnumbered. I went to Ash Wednesday service last night and I had one young lady in front, one behind me, and three to my right, and that was it.
It’s also not hard to figure out why. We youngsters are products of instantaneous information, constant innovation and change, and millions of attention diversions. As I type this, I’m checking my Twitter account and my e-mail. So, the thought of sitting through a tradition-steeped church service that moves at a snails pace and hasn’t changed in many, many years is a bit contrasting to the way we live.
The truth is, I don’t care whether people go to church, it has no affect on how I view them. It would be hard for me to see eye to eye with an atheist or someone who worships on the opposite end of the spectrum. As I stated at the beginning, though, I’m not one to care about others' choices in this matter. It is, however, interesting to see this phenomenon taking place, and I’m curious as to whether our generation will end up attending church at the same rate as those before us. Perhaps only the big guy knows, err.. that is if you believe in that sort of thing.
3 comments:
i've been saying for years how we should find a church. But instead of being all religious, for now, i'll just Keep the Faith (unintentional Bon Jovi song title usage).
It's funny that you just posted this. David and I were just talking about church yesterday and how there aren't any people our age there. Is it important to worship at a place where you're surrounded by elders? No. But from our standpoint, well, at least mine, I'd like to go to a church where I can meet more people my age and branch out to make new friends. It's hard to do these days.
I'm in the process of exploring several different churches - and religions. However, it's more of an intellectual pursuit than spiritual. (Actually, that's not totally true ... I'm looking for something but not sure I'm ready to call it a religious pursuit.)
My guess is that the reluctance to join churches is several-fold:
1.) The role churches increasingly play in politics.
2.) The hypocritical nature of many churches - "The greatest of these is love," [unless you're gay]
3.) The lack of stimulation (to your point)
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