The Demographics They Are A'changin

My take on last Sunday's reading from Mark centered around the question of belief versus unbelief. Recent surveys of the U.S. population seem to indicate that unbelief is winning.

From Crisis Magazine, a conservative Roman Catholic site, came a review of the data which found, 

"...about two-thirds of U.S. Catholics believing that Catholic politicians who supported abortion should be welcome to receive Communion and an astonishing 78% who said the same thing about those that actively support homosexuality."

Clearly, there is a lack of belief in Roman Catholic doctrine. 

How about basic Christian teaching?

"To measure moral acceptance of homosexuality, the NSFG (National Survey of Family Growth) asked respondents if they agreed or disagreed with the statement, 'Sexual relations between two adults of the same sex are all right.' As Figure 1 shows, there has been a profound increase in agreement with this statement among Catholics of both genders between 15 and 27 years of age. This position now commands a super majority among young professing Catholics. Only “Nones” are more liberal. Moreover, these Catholics are barely distinguishable from Mainline Protestants, whose denominations have mostly officially accepted homosexuality, gay clergy, and same-sex marriage."

There is much more data in the report including an increase in young women experimenting with homosexuality. 

Over at the Christian Post, we see a report of a survey that shows the younger generations have little faith and little appreciation of Jesus' teachings.

"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."

"90% of boomers believe you treat others as you want them to treat you, while less than half of millennials agree."

28% of boomers stated they either don’t know, don’t care or don’t believe God exists compared to 43% of millennials...*

64% of boomers believe Satan is a real and influential, compared to and 44% of millennials.*

 *reworded for clarity

Is it any wonder that we are seeing young people turning to homosexuality, gang membership, violence, and criminal behavior when they are not raised to believe in the biblical Jesus?

Parents, teachers, and the Church all share responsibility for the sad state of affairs revealed by these surveys. 

Yes, the scoffers and unbelievers will always be with us, but the tide seems to have turned in their favor.