Matt Bush, FISM News
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A new survey from Springtide Research Institute shows that the number of Americans who believe in a “higher power” among those aged 18-25 is surging.
“About one-third of 18-to-25-year-olds say they believe — more than doubt — the existence of a higher power, up from about one quarter in 2021, according to a recent survey of young adults,” wrote Clare Ansbury of the Wall Street Journal.
According to Fox News, many young people, theologians, and church leaders attribute the growth in faith to the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea being that many young people experienced loss, loneliness, and disruption during the pandemic, and now they are turning to God for comfort.
It is important, however, to delineate between “belief in a higher power” and “belief in God.” The Christian Post pointed out that this idea of “spiritual openness” often comes at the expense of “Christian convictions.”
This survey shows that more people are believing in a “higher power,” but other, similar surveys show that belief in God amongst Americans is waning.
This Gallup poll shows that belief in God in America has dropped from around 98 percent in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, to just 81 percent this year, the poll’s lowest since it began in 1945.
Political scientist Ryan Burge wrote an article entitled “Gen Z and Religion in 2021” in which he combed through data concerning how religion and belief in God affect Generation Z.
“Seventeen percent of young people describe their religion as atheist or agnostic, and thirty-one percent say that they are attached to no religion in particular. Taken together, 36% of Gen Z are Christians, while 48% are nones. They are the first generation in history in which the nones clearly outnumber the Christians,” Burge wrote.
On top of that, the Pew Research Center published a report stating that “if recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades.”
The numbers are troubling because they show that people in America are turning away from Jesus, although it is only through a relationship with Jesus that someone can find forgiveness of their sins, a life of purpose, and eternity with God.
However, there is also reason to hope when looking at those numbers. In the words of the Christian Post, “Young people are grappling seriously with a search for meaning, truth, and belonging. This is a critical moment to reach what is the loneliest, most agnostic, and most distraught generation on record.”
When a person grapples with spiritual things and genuinely seeks after truth, they can only be fulfilled when they meet Jesus Christ, the true and living God, and it is our duty as followers of Christ to introduce the lost to Jesus whenever we get the chance.
As a Christian broadcasting network, the FISM mission is to “expose Jesus for who He is, what He means, and what He can do!”