Why Christian Youth is Leaving the Church: The Friendly Atheist Explains

  

There's an article, published by CNN, written by one Rachel Held Evans, that tries to explain why "millennials" are leaving evangelical protestant churches. It's an interesting take on the matter, but where she gets close to some of the reasons, she doesn't even get half way there.

   She basically thinks the modern churches are too flashy, and out of touch with the original meaning of Christ. So people looking for "true religion" are flocking to more traditional churches, like the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopalian Church. That sort of thing. She thinks the modern churches are "pushing" the youth away.

 
  "Time and again, the assumption among Christian leaders, and evangelical leaders in particular, is that the key to drawing twenty-somethings back to church is simply to make a few style updates – edgier music, more casual services, a coffee shop in the fellowship hall, a pastor who wears skinny jeans, an updated Web site that includes online giving.
But here’s the thing: Having been advertised to our whole lives, we millennials have highly sensitive BS meters, and we’re not easily impressed with consumerism or performances.
In fact, I would argue that church-as-performance is just one more thing driving us away from the church, and evangelicalism in particular.
Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions – Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. – precisely because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being “cool,” and we find that refreshingly authentic.
What millennials really want from the church is not a change in style but a change in substance."

  She makes her argument here:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/

  Something didn't ring true to me. And it shouldn't ring true to anyone. It's not as if the traditional churches are overflowing with youth, either.
  
    Our friend, Hemant Mehta from The Friendly Atheist had a great rebuttal in an article CNN also released. Information, and the internet, and atheists are pulling the kids away from not only the flashy, commercialized churches, but from all religions.

  From Hemant Mehta's article:

   "Articles and books about why millennials are leaving Christianity often focus on what churches are doing "wrong."
They're anti-gay, anti-women, anti-science, anti-sex-education and anti-doubt, 
to name a few of the most common criticisms.
I don't disagree with those critiques, but there's another side to the story.
While Christians have played sloppy defense, secular Americans have been showing off some impressive offense, giving young Christians plenty of reasons to lose faith in organized religion."

   It's not so much that the commercialization of religion is a turn-off. It is. But at the heart of it is not the style of the sale. It's the product. And the more we know, the less the product, the Bible, the dogma, and the belief has to offer to modern civilization.

  Reality, and atheism are on the rise like never before. And religion is on a slow death spiral. It's only natural. It's only rational. And it's coming to a neighborhood near you, sooner than you think. And a lot of the thanks goes out to the preachers.

  "But more than anything else, atheism's best advertisements may be the words of Christian leaders themselves.
When Pastor Mark Driscoll belittles women, Rick Warren argues against same-sex rights or Rob Bell equivocates on the concept of hell, we amplify those messages for them - and it helps us make our point."

   Hemant gives you the rest of the story here:

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/30/why-are-millennials-leaving-church-try-atheism/

   There's a constant debate even inside the atheist community. Why bother to try to counter religion and its incursion on our secular country? We'll never change anyone's mind. Well, I think we all know that's not true.

   Hemant Mehta's blog, The Friendly Atheist:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/