A new survey from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University shows that millennials feel some indifference to Christianity despite viewing Jesus Christ favorably.
The recent survey revealed that a majority or 65% of millennials profess to be Christian. Nationally, the average is 69%. The survey results showed that while 59% of millennials viewed Jesus Christ favorably, they also viewed Christianity as more of a "moral system for being a good person" instead of a "commitment to follow" Jesus Christ.
Christian Headlines reported that according to the report "Millennials in America: New Insights into the Generation of Growing Influence," millennials' indifference to Christianity is caused by several factors, including how they view the Bible and church. Research showed that only half of millennials or 51% viewed the Bible favorably, while only 50% viewed the Christian faith favorably.
Millennials' indifference and ambivalence view on Christianity is also caused by distrust of pastors and the notion that Christians are hypocrites, the report revealed. Another reason is the uncertainty over how the ancient faith could apply to a post-modern society. The report's findings reflect how millennials are slow to accept Christianity, reflecting the results of a previous survey that showed only 4% of millennials today hold a biblical worldview.
The Cultural Research Center's report found that millennials who are disengaged from Christianity were also least likely to engage in Christian practices. Meanwhile, most adults have attended a church service or worship (40%), spent at least an hour reading the Bible (40%), or donated money to a church, religious center or faith-based organization (40%). Conversely, 6 out 10 older adults had participated in religious practices in the last month.
Survey results found that most millennials, despite not being drawn to Christianity, do not consider themselves as atheists. Only one-fourth or 25% of young adults viewed atheism favorably versus 31% who viewed atheism negatively or offered no opinion about it.
Meanwhile, across all generations, millennials had the lowest level when it comes to having a traditional, biblical worldview of who God is with just 35%. Furthermore, a little over half or 56% of millennials believe that moral truth is subjective rather than objective.
The new findings by the Cultural Research Center reflect a similar research conducted earlier this year. The Independent reported in May that more than four out of 10 millennials do not know, believe, or care that God exists. The findings were also conducted by the same research center at Arizona Christian University. The survey on 2,000 American adults at the time found that 57% considered themselves to be Christian.
The Cultural Research Center's research director, Dr. George Barna commented on the fact that most or 24 out of 25 millennials are missing a biblical worldview, suggesting that Christians must "help them understand the role of worldview and then to embrace the biblical worldview."
Dr. Barna added, "Their current reliance upon syncretism-the patchwork perspective on life drawn from competing and sometimes contradictory ideas and often muddled and misguided viewpoints-is detrimental to their well-being."
The research director called upon Christians to "adopt proven biblical truths about life" because he believes that without this kind of decision-making reorientation, "stop-gap measures [are] doomed to fail."
