To say the least…It's an interesting study :->

I think that conversation has a lot to do with the inevitable backlash many who are unsatisfied w/ the grip of traditionalism and status quo forms of church/institutional Christianity that aren't “working.” I don't have all the answers, but I do believe that the inability to at least evaluate the institutional forms of Christianity and ask the hard questions as to their efficiency or lack thereof, is sorely lacking! (Efficiency: as in, is this best doing what the Author intended)…

Sooo…I DO appreciate, what appears to be the courageous efforts of those in the emerging conversation/progress folks(not sure of all the labels ;-), to at least tackle these questions, and live out what they see as a better way.

Peter Rollins, Brian McLaren, Donald Miller, Rob Bell, and many more, are some of the authors that have clued me in on some aspects of this conversation…

Appreciate your comments…

Have you heard of the Emerging Church? I first heard of this in college (oh-so-long ago!) and a friend (who was a Sociology and Religious Studies major) ended up doing a case study on this movement for her Senior Research. According to Wikipedia its “a group of people who are disillusioned with the organized and institutional church and seek to deconstruct modern Christian worship and modern evangelism.”

Basically its turned into a group of 18-30 year olds seeking relationship and not religion. I feel that our society is constantly changing, constantly shifting and people (moreso now than ever) are seeking meaning. From the lovely line graph above, we see that each generation is less religion affiliated than the generation before. That is to say, hypothetically, a parent is way more religious than their children. It makes sense, a child might feel stifled by their parents' religious fervor and seek their own way of thinking…

But i think its also important to note the other half of this situation. Although you don't include this, i think many would realize that 30+ adults are more religious. Why is this? I think that after a person has spent those years soul searching, trying to find their way in life, they eventually find something that “feels” right and when they settle down (average age for this in our generation is somethinglike 24+, which admittedly is way later than older generations) they are more likely to have their religious affairs in order so as to teach their family…

Its a cycle I believe, that will continue to perpetuate itself as years go on. A child learns about religion from their parents, falls away from this religion in formative identity years and ends up coming back as their settle down and make their own family …
and the cycle continues.

I don't consider myself particularly religious. And i'm very happy for that reason. I learn, i search, i question and i hope to grow as i do so.

Even if that won't happen for another hundred years or so…. i can dream, can't i?