Christian beliefs and values are disappearing from American life and the culture is filling the void with an individualism and moral relativism that even many Christians adhere to, new research shows.<\/p>\n
The study by The Barna Group, \u201cThe End of Absolutes: America\u2019s New Moral Code,\u201d also finds that Americans, religious or not, share a concern about the nation\u2019s moral situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a tremendous amount of individualism in today\u2019s society, and that\u2019s reflected in the church too,\u201d Barna President David Kinnaman commented in the May 25, 2016, report.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we wring our hands about secularism spreading through the culture, a majority of churchgoing Christians have embraced corrupt, me-centered theology,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Taking a hard view of moral truth<\/p>\n
However, while the survey presents a picture of American moral views, a religion professor says researchers would have to turn the clock back decades, even centuries, to find a time when these trends weren\u2019t at work to some degree.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d be going back a long, long way,\u201d said Daniel Conkle, a professor of law and adjunct professor of religious studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.<\/p>\n
There was a \u201cdominant Christian ethos\u201d at the nation\u2019s founding with a morality that directed society and political culture, Conkle said.<\/p>\n
But practically since then, it\u2019s been in decline. Immigration, beginning in the 1800s, has done its part by introducing a broad array of new religious perspectives on the American scene, he said.<\/p>\n
In the mid-20th century another trend developed that continues today: Americans self-identifying as spiritual but not religious.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether they identify as Christian or Jew, they don\u2019t necessarily subscribe to all the formal doctrines of the church,\u201d Conkle said. U.S. Catholics expressed this trend through their rejection of the church\u2019s prohibition of contraception.<\/p>\n
More recently, the rise of the nones \u2014 Americans with no religious affiliation \u2014 has accelerated the conditions reported by the Barna report, Conkle said.<\/p>\n
Altogether, these trends throughout American history have undercut any one religion\u2019s claim to absolute truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now the most religiously diverse country in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The fact that Millennials largely shun organized religion diminishes even more the notion of a faith-based American moral code.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose folks are to some extent secularized and take a hard view of moral truth,\u201d Conkle said.<\/p>\n
Pursuing the way of self<\/p>\n
However, the belief in America\u2019s moral decline is shared by 80 percent of U.S. adults, regardless of generation, Barna reported.<\/p>\n
========================================================================================
\n Chart:<\/p>\n
Moral Truth: Absolute Or Relative?
\n(% among U.S. Adults, by generation and faith segment)<\/p>\n
ABSOLUTE RELATIVE NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT IT<\/p>\n
Elders | 33% \/ 39% \/ 28% |
\n Boomers | 42% \/ 41% \/ 17% |
\n Gen-Xers | 33% \/ 44% \/ 23% |
\n Millennials | 31% \/ 51% \/ 19% |
\n Practicing Christians | 59% \/ 28% \/ 14% |
\n No faith | 15% \/ 61% \/ 23% |
\n Other faith | 38% \/ 43% \/ 19% |<\/p>\n
Carna, OmniPoll, July 3-9, 2015; N=1,237<\/p>\n
[ adapted by David Holwick; percentages are accurate but positions are approximate ]<\/p>\n
========================================================================================<\/p>\n
\u201cA majority of Americans across age group, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status and political ideology expresses concern about the nation\u2019s moral condition \u2014 eight in 10 overall,\u201d Barna said.<\/p>\n
Yet at the same time, 57 percent expressed a belief that \u201cknowing what is right and wrong is a matter of personal experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also, 65 percent of American adults agreed that every culture must decide what is morally acceptable for itself, the Barna survey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA sizeable number of Americans see morality as a matter of cultural consensus,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
And that goes for many Christians, too.<\/p>\n
When presented with the statement, \u201cThe best way to find yourself is by looking within yourself,\u201d 76 percent of Christians agreed.<\/p>\n
There were similar breakdowns on not judging the life choices of others, on the primacy of personal fulfilment and other topics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillions of Christians have grafted New Age dogma onto their spiritual person,\u201d Kinnaman said in his remarks about the study. \u201cWhen we peel back the layers, we find that many Christians are using the way of Jesus to pursue the way of self.\u201d<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2016 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christian beliefs and values are disappearing from American life and the culture is filling the void with an individualism and moral relativism that even many Christians adhere to, new research shows. The study by The Barna Group, \u201cThe End of Absolutes: America\u2019s New Moral Code,\u201d also finds that Americans, religious or not, share a concern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2669,995,900,2326,2127,13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6934\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}