Have seen similar report the last few days about Americans and their faith.
25% have left the religion of their childhood.
31% have left the Catholic faith alone.
16% have no religious affiliation at all.
Our country is now 51% Protestant, apparently the lowest it has ever been. They say we have become a nation of searchers. Some in part, have blamed churches themselves. This is coming from church people. They say we have dumbed down the faith to make it more palatable to the Generation Now culture. they say we the Church have only ourselves to blame.
25% have left the religion of their childhood. Depending on your childhood, that could be said for a whole lot of things. Changing religion is certainly not a deal-breaker for me. One less atheist sounds pretty good to me. DH also left the religion of his childhood. He and Mitt Rommey had alot in common until 30 years ago. There was a much greater penalty he had to pay which in someway, affected his relationship with his family ever since.
Maybe your childhood was perfect. No complaints, no bitterness. If that is the case, and I truly mean this, God bless you. On a bad day, I would trade places with you in a heartbeat but, when I am thinking clearly - I would never have chose to be anywhere else. The lessons I have learned have been invaluable. It is very tough to look at your own childhood and not see it with little kid eyes but if you can get to that point, there are treasures to be found. If we can view childhood objectively without prejudice, whether those who were entrusted with our well-being did or did not do their job at some point, won't matter. I am not necessarily talking about forgiveness but growing up. Growing up is always an option. As I have explained to those in the boat that I traveled in long ago, when your last parent dies- no matter the relationship, you become an orphan. DH said that was his first thought when I called him at work to tell him that his dad had passed. You are no longer any one's baby. You are alone. It is a stark reality that takes time to sink in. It was an incredibly long journey for me even with my family history.
Generation N pretty much hits the nail on the head. As for faith, they will have to make their own way with their own resources. It will be interesting to see what faith in America looks like 10 years down the road. We will have a better data then. The thing is all that really matters is our own faith and how that plays out in our world. I am not going to panic. You can't use old school thinking to explain the what's happening now crowd. I see it more as an exodus of religion. Faith will out live religion...always.
