Sunday, 2 March 2014

Is US Christianity on a suicide mission?

Posted by Nildogma at Sunday, March 02, 2014

Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), famously said, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man." That was almost 500 years ago but the lesson has not been forgotten—around the world religious leaders understand the importance of instilling religious ideas into children and young people.

This is why it is surprising that so many Christian churches in the US have flocked to denounce gay people in general and gay marriage in particular.

A Gallup Poll in November 2012 showed 53% of all Americans support gay marriage. That's up from 27% in 1996. As attitudinal change goes, that is a seismic increase in 16 years. And there's more. A whopping 73% of those in the 18-29 year-old age group support gay marriage.

If your very future depends upon bringing young people into your church, you might think churches would seek campaigns that find enthusiastic support among the young. After all, the survival of the church is, presumably, more important than any one issue of dogma.

It's not hard to see how the anti-gay-marriage bandwagon got started. Twenty years ago, it found wide support and the hard line pushed by church leaders seems like a winner. But who did the segmentation study? Who checked to see where the support was coming from? There's little strategic value in pandering to your hard-core supporters—you need to attract those who will replace them.

But, apparently, no-one did the segmentation study.

No-one noticed the younger people drifting away from religion. In 2012, the Pew Research Center reported 32% of Americans in the 18-29 age group have no religious affiliation. That's up from around 13% in just 20 years.

I'm not arguing that religious opposition to gay marriage has caused this dramatic fall in religious affiliation. Of course not. Correlation is not necessarily causation. But I do know what people say to me. The religious see gay marriage as an issue of doctrine—young people see it as an issue of equal rights.

Many young people see religious opposition to gay marriage as a doctrine of hate and discrimination and they want no part of it.

Meanwhile, in a pulpit somewhere near you, an elderly pastor, who will soon be drawing his pension, rants about Adam and Steve and the destruction of marriage. Perhaps he doesn't notice a subtle change in the age profile of those listening to him.

Perhaps he doesn't care.